The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-19 00:00:00

LOltri3o24, PRIDA.Y EVENING. NOVEMBER 192 SO*

/41E

LITERATURE.

R 11 N' S ANTI QUA LEV Y.—Ecclesi-
astical History of England, and Anglo Saxon. Chronicle.
By the Venerable Bede. Northern Antiquities.
Translated fiorn the French of M. Nallet, by Bishop
Percy. —Chronicle of the Kings of England. By William
of A. lalmeshury.
Encouraged by the distinguished and deserved suc-
cess of his Standard Library, Mr. Boha has adven-
tured upon another and yet more laudable enterprise,
namely, the publication in a cheap and popular, yet
valuable and compact, form of a library, such as must
be prized by all antiquaries. The costliness hitherto
peculiar to such works renders the attempt the more
worthy of commendation, and the more entitled to
encouragement. The works already issued as the
preliminary portion of the series are of sufficient
eminence to command the attention of such as are
not professionally antiquaries. Foremost among these
are the historical composition of the most reverent of
our native historians—the Monk of the Jarrow—the
Venerable Bede. His " Ecclesiastical History of
England," and his " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," are
here compressed into a single volume—a volume
worth its V 1 eight in gold. Next appeared the inva-
luable researches of M. Mallet into " Northern
Antiquities," or, to speak as explicitly as the title-
page of Bishop Percy's translation, " Into the
Manners, Customs, Religion, and Laws, Maritime
Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Litera-
ture of the Ancient Scandinavians (Danes, Swedes,
Norwegians, and Icelanders), with Incidental No-
tices of our Saxon Ancestors." In these researches,
M. Mallet delved into the very core of the mysteries
and difficulties of antiquarianism; and fa- this reason
his labours are appropriately chronicled at the very
outset of the Antiquarian Library. Of the " Chro-
nicles of William of Malmesbury," we need say
nothing more than that it is one of those crocks of
historic gold from which Hume, and Lingard, and
Rapin have roked such treasures. As far as the
Antiquarian Library has yet proceeded it deserves
every laudatory consideration, and if continued with
the same skill in selection will command success

THE NORTH BRITISH REVIEW. No. XV:
There is no inconsiderable misrepresentation in the
opening paper upon " Lord Lindsay's Christian Art,"
with reference to the ecclesiastical obstructions raised
against the advancement of science. It is unneces-
sary, however, to do more than remark incidentally
that Christianity promoted the study of the Aristo-
telian philosophy until the inductive system was
established, and that thereupon its patronage was
transferred. Those who are peculiarly interested in
the position and characteristics of the University of
Oxford will find food for contemplation in the second
article, together with an indecisive promise of a sub-
sequent paper on Cambridge. We are rejoiced to see
the social grievances connected with the collieries re-
vived in the third contribution, being an intelligent
chapter upon the wants of " Our Mining Population."
From the concluding paragraph of this dissertation
we transcribe a very earnest panegyric upon Lord
Ashley. We know of no situation," says the re-
viewer, " which a good man would be more disposed
to envy than that which Lord Ashley occupies in this
country at the present moment. With a character
spotless and unblemished, which ennobles his rank,
and sheds a lustre around his name—devoting the
whole energies of his mind, not to purposes of per-
sonal aggrandizement, but to elevate immense masses
of his fellow-creatures from a state of degradation
and misery to a state of happiness and enjoyment—
standing apart from all political parties, yet to a
great extent possessing the confidence of all—Lord
Ashley occupies a position as responsible as it is dig-
nified and honourable. Before him there is a vast
field, which he is well qualified to cultivate, and
which promises a rich harvest. He has our prayers
for his success. We bid him Godspeed. It
is possible he may not get full credit for
his labours now ; posterity will do him justice.
In the end he shall have his reward."
The Noble Lord the representative of Bath has now
a securer footing and a wider field for the develop-
ment of his philanthropic aspirations—free trade being
recognised, the Ten Hours Bill triumphant, and
himself restored to his seat in Parliament. "The
Abuses of Trial by Jury" are next assailed, and with
sufficient reason. " Wilson's Lands of the Bible "
has afforded the text for a most interesting paper on
Palestine, half theological, half geographical. " Bun-
sen's Church of the Future," and the " Medaeval
History of Italy," are both decidedly theologic, and
occasionally controversial in tone, and for that reason
will not be unattractive to the majority of English
readers. The retrospect of " Sir James Clark Ross's
Expedition of Discovery to the Antarctic Region"
is immeasurably more * our taste, and a not
unworthy commemoration of the voyage of that dis-
tinguished navigator. The pension of 160/. per
annum, recently bestowed upon Sir James Ross, is
but a fractional portion of the recompense to which
he is eminently entitled by his services. Altogether
the most attractive contribution to the November
quarter is, however, the critical paper on "The Life
and Writings of Percy Bysshe Shelley ;" it is at-
tractive in composition and attractive in title. The
principal object of the reviewer is manifestly to pro-
nounce an emphatic condemnation on the memoir of
"the poet of poets," by Captain Thomas Medwin.
This intention he hasfulfilled, we should imagine, to his
heart's content. For, besides other very contemptuous
remarks, the paper closes with an allusion to Captain
Medwin's " unreadable and presumptuous work." As
far, however, as biography is concerned, the article
written by the North British Reviewer is quite as
fully entitled to dispraise; for it is painfully super-
ficial, distressingly straggled, marvelously self-suffi-
cient, pert, malapert, and incomplete. Although in
the ostentatious list of authorities prefixed to this
paper there is especial mention of the " Gallery of
Literary Portraits," by George Gilfillan, there is not
in the article, from first to last, one mention of Mr.
Gilfillan, or one reference to his most eloquent and
glowing portraiture of Shelley. The writer, indeed,
evidently commenced with a determination to give
a biography scrupulously accurate and punctiliously
detailed; as he proceeded his enthusiasm abated, and at
the conclusion of his notice he scrambles off
with a few loose and interjectional sentences.
This, to our thinking, is totally and positively un-
pardonable, and with a theme so enthralling is utterly
incomprehensible. He tells us, for example, the fol-
lowing facts with the nicest possible amount of ex-
actitude :—that Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at
Field-place an the 4th of August, 1792 ; that he first
went to an academy called Sion House, at Brentford,
thence for two years he proceeded to Eton, and in
1810 removed to University College, Oxford ; that
on the following year he was expelled for printing
and distributing a blasphemous tract or syllabus en-
titled " The Necessity of Atheism ;" that in the
August of 1811 he married, at Gretna Green, a girl
whom he had carried off from a London boarding-
school, he being then only nineteen and she sixteen ;
that he spent the honeymoon at Keswick, sailed
thence for Cork, visited the lakes of Killarney, and
proceeded to Dublin ; that after leaving Ireland he
passed through the Isle of Man, through Radnorshire,
and through Carnaervonshire ; that a separation took
place in the spring of 1813 between himself and his
wife, the latter dying two years after their separa-
tion; that in 1816 he married again, the daughter of
Godwin being his bride; and here the paper, as a
biography, may be said to terminate. Remembering
the exquisite notes by Mrs. Shelley on her immortal
husband's life, and remembering, too, the beautiful
papers published by Mr. Hogg in the New Monthly
Magazine several years back, describing the life of
his companion at Oxford, we cannot regret this
ehbreviation. For, to all intents and purposes, it is a
mere scrambling together of what had been already
written elsewhere, and written immeasurably better.
One portion only of the article is valuable, because it is
curious. It refers to the political pamphlet written
by Shelley when in Dublin. Here is the account
furnished for the first time by the reviewer :
" In Dr. Drummond's 'Life of Hamilton Rowan,' we
are told in language which he quotes as Shelley's, that
the poet selected Ireland as a theatre the widest and
fairest fur the operations of the determined friends of
religious and political freedom.'—' In pursuance of this
design,' adds Dr. Drummond, he published a pamphlet,
entitled,: An Address to the Irish People,' with an ad-
vertisement on the title-page, declaring it to be the
author's intention to awaken in the minds of the Irish
poor a knowledge of their real state, summarily pointing
out the evils of that state, and suggesting rational means
of remedy.' He sent Hamilton Rowan some copies of
the pamphlet, with a letter, from which we quote a few
words:—
" • Although an Englishman, I feel for Ireland; and
I have left the country in which the accident of birth
placed me, for the sole purpose of adding my little stock
of usefulness to the fund which I hope Ireland possesses,
to aid her in the unequal yet sacred combat in which
she is engaged. In the course of a few days more I
shall prinlt ahnaovteheinrtesnmtaiol p
nl
alalymvpuhllge, which shall
atrizedthelan be
language
eenoft
tt oh e you.
enclosed. I have printed 1,500 copies, and am now
distributing them throughout Dublin.'
" In a letter written a month or two after, he speaks of
being engaged in writing a history of Ireland, in con-
junction with some friend, and says, that ' two hundred.
and fifty pages of it were printed.' Who could h
friend have been? we think it not improbable that it
may have been Lawless—at that time, we believe, an
active member of the Political Associations in Dublin.
iCnaplatain
12,
hiedwin quotes
elwasmoreli from Shelley
keiytohave languagetau
ghto which,Conneli
than to have learned from him. Like the hereditary
bondsmen,' and the first flower of the earth,' O'Connell
made it his own by adoption. My principles incite
me to take all the good I can get in politics—for ever
aspiring to something more. lam one of those whom
nothing will fully satisfy, but who are ready to be par-
tially satisfied with whatever is practicable."
" Shelley's pamphlet is before us. Medwin, it seems,
searched in vain for a copy. Ours was obtained through
au Irish friend of Shelley's, whose acquaintance with
the poet originated accidentally. A poor man offered
the pamphlet fur a few pence—its price, stated on the
title-page was fivepence. On being asked how he got
it, he said a parcel of them were given him by a young

- -
gentleman, who told him to get what he could for them
—at ell events to distribute them. Inquiry was made
at Shelley's lodgings to ascertain the truth of the ven-
dor's story. He was not at home; but when he heard
of it he went to return the visit, and kindly acquaint-
anceship thus arose. The Shelleys—husband and wife
—were then Pythagoreans. Shelley spoke as a man be-
lieving in the metempsychosis—and they did not eat
animal food. They seem however to have tolerated it;
for on one occasion a fowl was murdered for our friend's
dinner. Of the first Mrs. Selley, the recollection of' our
friend is faint, but is of an amiable and unaffected per-
son—very young and very pleasing—and she and Shel-
ley seemed much attached. This affection seems to have
preserved a doubtful life for some little while after they
left Ireland, for we find a letter dated August, 1812, in
which he says—' I am a young man, not of age, and
have been married for a year to a woman younger than
myself. Love seems inclined to stay in the prison, and
my only reason for putting him in chains, whilst con-
vinced of the unholiness of the act, was a knowledge that
in the present state of society, if love is not thus villan-
ously treated, she who is most loved will be treated
worst by a misjudging world.' His theoretical objections
to marriage exizted even betbre he had contracted that
engagement with his first wife. It had been preached
by him in • Queen Mab.' He had learned the doctrine,
he says, before, but it was confirmed by a work of Sir
James Lawrence, entitled 'The Empire of the Nairs.'
Shelley's Irish pamphlet was not very likely to be po-
pular among the Irish. He said to them that their reli-
gion—the Roman Catholic. had been a bad thing in
long ago times. The Inquisition, he writes, was set
up, and in the course of one year thirty thousand people
were burnt in Italy and Spain, for entertaining different
opinions from those of the Pope and the priests. The
bigoted monks of France in ono night massacred 80,000
Proteatants. This was done under the authority of the
Pope. The vices of the monks and the nuns in their
convents were in those times shameful; people thought
that they might commit any sin, however monstrous, if
they had money enough to prevail on the priests to ab-
st.lve them.' Such was the opening of Shelley's pacific
discourse—to a people not likely to admit any of his
facts. The Irish are a credulous and yet an unbelieving
people. Like better educated people, and in a more ad-
vanced state of society, they believe just what they like;
and it is not to be expected that they should give any
assent whatever to Shelley's propositions. Your true
Irishman will not even believe that a murder has been
committed till some person is executed, and then it is the
man who is hanged that he regards as murdered. Some
teach you that others are heretics, that you alone are
right. * * • Beware, my friends, how you trust
those who speak in this way; they will, I doubt not, at-
tempt to rescue you from your present miserable state—
but they will prepare a worse. It will be -` out of the
frying-pan into the fire.' Your present oppressors, it is
true, will then oppress you no longer, but you will feel
the lash of a master a thousand times more bloodthirsty
and cruel. Evil, designing men will spring up who will
prevent you from thinking as you please—will burn you,
if you do not think as they do.' He then prophesies
Catholic Emancipation, but tells them to take 'great care
that whilst one tyranny is destroyed another more fierce
and terrible does not spring up. Take care, then, of
smooth-faced impostors, who talk indeed of freedom, but
would cheat you into slavery. Can there be worse
slavery tban the depending for the safety of your soul
on the will of another man? * • * Oh! Ireland,
thfleatgorc of fire,
h of
thou emerald of the ocean, whose sons are generous and
brave, whose daughters are honourable, and frank and
fair, thou art the isle in whose green shores I have sirede-
a
atcoo
as e ea
tt hwelasitcahn dtahred owfolrilbde rat
hyael
lr e c
lighte d --
a
freedom!'
" The question of toleration is then discussed. Belief
he regards as involuntary:—' We cannot believe just
what we like, but only what we think to be trues'
is not a merit to tolerate, but it is a crime to be into-
lerant;' An Act passed in the British
Parliament to
take away the rights of Catholics to act in that assem-
bly does not really take them away:it prevents them
from doing it by force;' Ohl Irishmen, lam interested
in your cause, and it is not because you are Irishmen or
Roman Catholics that I fell with you or feel for you—
but because you are men and sufferers. Were Ireland
at this moment peopled with Brahmins, this very same
address would have been suggested by the very same
state of mind. You have suffered not merely for your
religion, but some other causes which I am equally de-
sirous of remedying. The union of England with Ire-
land has withdrawn the Protestant aristocracy and
gentry from their native country, and with them their
friends and connexions. Their resources are taken from
this country, though they are dissipated in another. The
very poor people are most nefariously oppressed by the
weight of the burden which the superior classes lay
upon their shoulders. lam no less desirous for the re-
form of these evils (with many others) than for the Ca-
tholic emancipation.'
"He assumes that thoie whom he addresses are
agreed with him on the general object, but that he and
they may differ as to the means of effecting it. 'lf you
are convinced of the truth of your cause, trust wholly to
its truth; if you are not convinced, give it up; in no case
employ violence.' He tells them to think and talk and
discuss." Be free and be happy, but first be wise and
good.' He tells them of the failure of the French Re-
volution, because violence was employed by the people.
The cause which they vindicated was that of truth, but
they gave it the appearance of a lie.' He tells them that
rebellion can never, under any circumstances, be good
for their cause. It will bind you more closely to the
work of the oppressor, and your children's children,
whilst they talk of your exploits, will feel that you have
done them injury instead of benefit.' He advises so-
briety, diligence in their respective callings, the educa-
tion of themselves and their children, the avoidance of
meeting in mobst—' Before the restrains of government
are lessened, it is fit that we should lessen the necessity
for them. Before government is done away with, we
must reform ourselves,' * * In order to benefit
yourselves and your country to any extent, habits of so-
briety, regularity, and thought, are previously so neces-
sary, that without these preliminaries all you have done
falls to the ground. You have built on sand. Secure
a good foundation, and you may erect a fabric to stand
for ever as the glory and the envy of the world.'
" In his pamphlet, a distinct plan is proposed to aid
in carrying out the projects of Emancipation and Repeal
of the Union.
We are rejoiced at being enabled to transcribe into
our columns this new curiosity of literature.

FINE ARTS.
WINDSOR CASTLE. Painted by David Octavius
Hill Engraved by William Richardson.
This noble picture—engraved by William Richard-
son from the original painting by David Octavius
Hill, F.S.A.—is a magnificent representation of the
lordliest palace in. Christendom. It has the double
merit of being a faithful sketch of the royal residence
of her most gracious Majesty, and a superb
work as a pine of artistic composition. The
view is taken from the river, showing the
north-west aspect of the Castle, in the serene
refulgence of a summer's evening. There is conveyed
by the entire picture an impression at once of the
pomp and domesticity of England—her pomp in the
gorgeous fane which has sheltered generations of her
kings—her domesticity in the rural atmosphere in
which it is enveloped. It constitutes, as it were the
cenotaph of the anointed princes of Great Britain, and
the type of the vastness and grandeur of the empire
over which their sceptre has been predominant. As
a work of art, the plate is eminently deserving of
eulogium. The distribution of lights and shades is
managed with extraordinary skill ; the distances and
depths of air are admirably expressed, and the
warmth of tone diffused over the whole composition,
from the dim and castellated architecture of the
palace to the lavish foliage of the trees, and the
generous glitter of the Thames in the foreground, is
beautifully in character with the memorable scene
depicted. If anything mars the production, it is the
profusion of the accessories, from the birds that are
sailing high up among the rosy colours of the sunset,
and the pleasure. hunters who are disporting them-
selves on the greensward, to the swans that are feed-
ing from the hand of the child in the excursion-boat,
and the sailors who are lazily enjoying the undula-
tions of the river. This, however, can scarcely be
regarded as a reasonable objection, as the profusion of
exquisite adjuncts to such a structure is in a peculiar
manner consonant with the glorious aspect and asso-
ciations of the original.

THE SCOTCH NATIONAL MONUMENT.—III accord-
ance with the resolution of the directors and subscribers
to the national monument, Calton-hill, the requisite
Parliamentary notices have been issued of an intended
application to the Legislature for power to alter and
enlarge the Act of Incorporation in several important
particulars. It is intended to increase the capital stock
of the association by the creation of new shares, and
also to dispense with the original intention of having a
church and place of sepulture in connexion with the
monument. In place of the original design it is pro-
posed to decorate the interior, as well as the exterior
of the building, with sculpture illustrative of national
achievements, and to adapt the interior for the reception
of monumental busts and statues of distinguished men of
all nations—the maintenance and repair of the monu-
ment to be upheld by the imposition of a sum for ad-
mission.

QUEEN POMARE.—The Auxiliare Breton of Rennes,
of the 13th, has the following :--" Yesterday, the dili-
gence of the Messageries Royales brought to the Hotel
de France twenty-one children, relations and servants of
Queen Pomare' whom Admiral Bruet is taken to Paris.
When they had dined most of them were taken to walk
about the town. One of them, who is decorated, and
speaks a little more French than any of the rest, said
that Queen Pomare had sent them to be made acquainted
with the King. They all took their departure this
morning, with the Admiral, for Paris.
The Earl of Auckland received a select circle to
dinner last evening, at his official residence at the Admi-
ralty. The following were among his Lordship's guests ;
The Duke of Devonshire, Viscount and Viscountess Pal-
merston, Count Potocki, Sir Charles and Lady Mary
Wood, Admiral and Lady E. Dundas, and Mr. C.
Greville.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston have a grand
dinner party to-morrow evening, at their residence in
Carlton Gardens. Her Ladyship has sent out invitations
for a soiree the same evening.
The Duchess Dowager of Bedford and Lady Rachel
Russell have arrived at Bedford Lodge, Campden-hill,
from her Grace's seat in the Highlands. Lord and Lady
Alexander Russell have just returned from Canada,
where his Lordship has been on duty with his regiment,
the Rifle Brigade.
The price of bread in Paris is now equal to 7d. per
quarters, or about the same price that is now charged
in Loudon for bread of a similar quality.

STATE OF THE NATION

BIRMINGHAM, THURSDAY.—It will be in the re-
collection of your readers, that at the late town
meeting, held here to receive the report of the depu-
tation who had waited upon Lord John Russell, it
was resolved, that, in consequence of the unsatisfac-
tory answer which had been given by his Lordship,
that a memorial should ,be presented to the Queen
setting forth the state of the country, and requesting
her Majesty's interference. In compliance with the
wish of the meeting, the following memorial has been
prepared, and will be immediately forwarded to Lord
John Russell for presentation :
" To HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
"THE MEMORIAL OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE BO-
ROUGH OF BIRMINGHAM.
" May it please the Queen,
" Your memorialists approach your Majesty with
the expression of their loyalty and affection, and in
full reliance upon your Majesty's anxiety for the wel-
fare of your people.
" Your ineinorialists would represent to your Ma-
jesty that in consequence of the present unexampled
and anomalous condition of the mercantile and trading
interests, a large portion of your Majesty's subjects
are at this time experiencing extreme suftering.
" Your memorialists would draw your Majesty's
attention to the fact, that a considerable number of
mercantile houses of great wealth have been suddenly
compelled to suspend their operations at a vast sacri-
fice of property, and to the manifest injury of the
industrious classes, and of those dependent upon such
houses in the general arrangements of business. No
sufficient effort has, in the opinion of your memo-
rialists, yet been made to check this undeserved and
unnecessary ruin of the mercantile interests ; and
that such ruin is the consequence of no error on the
part of those upon whom it has fallen, but that it has
been caused mainly by the operation of a restrictive
monetary system, which has compelled the banking
institutions to withhold the usual and legitimate
banking facilities on which all the mercantile and
trading operations of the nation are immediately de-
pendent.
" Your memorialists would further represent that
the evils of a restrictive monetary system will un-
questionably be greatly aggravated now that the
Legislature has abandoned that protective policy
under which many interests in this country and in
your Majesty's colonies had been called into existence
and maintained in a state of prosperity. That the
abandonment of this protective system was professedly
adopted by the Legislature for the purpose of giving
encouragement to the industry of your Majesty's
subjects in the United Kingdom; but your memo-
rialists would respectfully draw your Majesty's atten-
tion to the fact, that the first consequence of this
policy has been the destruction of many houses of
high character and possessing ample resources, en-
gaged in the colonial trade; and that the ruin of all
who are so engaged appears ito be inevitable; while
the existing condition of your Majesty's subjects at
home is a conclusive proof that they have as yet de-
rived no benefit from the changes to which your
memorialists refer.
" Your memorialists are prepared to admit that the
principle of free-trade is in the abstract a sound
principle ; but in bringing into operation new and
extensive changes, attention should have been given
to the state of the interests likely at once to be
affected, and to the character and influence of the
monetary system of this country ; and your memo-
rialists unhesitatingly assure your Majesty, that to
persevere in a free-trade policy, and at the same time
to maintain the existing restrictions upon the credit
and monetary arrangements of the trading and mer-
cantile classes, is a course calculated to endanger the
best interests of all your Majesty's subjects.
" Your memorialists would also represent, that in
consequence of the total derangement of that credit
currency, the efficient maintenance of which is essen-
tial to the well, being of the whole community, not
only have the evils to which they have adverted been
produced, but, as a necessary consequence, the de-
mand for labour has been much diminished in the
principal manufacturing districts of England, and
that the operative population in those districts are now
suffering extreme privations, and that their distress
cannot fail to be greatly increased during the ap-
proaching winter. That the suspension of many of
the railway works sanctioned by the Legislature, and
affording employment and a comfortable subsistence
to a vast number of your Majesty's subjects, has led
to the discharge of a numerous body of railway
labourers, who must either be thrown upon the al-
ready over-crowded labour market, or be compelled
to seek parochial relief. Your memorialists observe
with extreme satisfaction that the privations conse-
quent upon this general want of employment have
hitherto been patiently borne by your Majesty's
people ; but your memorialists would faithfully warn
your Majesty that it will not be safe to anticipate
that the peace and good order of society can be long
maintained if the severe distress now experienced by
all classei shall not be removed.
" Your memorialists would further represent to
your Majesty that there are no natural causes in
operation in England to which the present fearful
condition of so many of your people can be properly
attributed. The blessing of an abundant harvest has
been made a just cause of national thanksgiving; but
your memorialists would draw your Majesty's atten-
tion to the fact, that this abundance yields no benefit
to the unemployed and the destitute, and to the occu-
piers of the crowded workhouses. It is the steady
and constant demand for labour and the means of
keeping at work the willing labourer, that can alone
secure general prosperity. These means, your memo-
rialists would respectfully represent, have hitherto
been unjustly and arbitrarily withheld under the
operation of a monetary system which is not.calcu-
lated to foster and extend the industry of your
people ; but which, while it benefits a small portion
of your Majesty's subjects, is calculated to destroy
the prosperity of the community at large.
" For these reasons your memorialists feel it to be
their duty, earnestly to represent to your Majesty
that it is absolutely necessary that remedial measures
should be immediately determined upon and put into
operation of a more extensive character than those at
present recommended by your Majesty's Ministers,
and better calculated to restore mercantile credit and
confidence, and to afford the means of bringing again
into employment that labour which is not only at this
time unproductive, but a heavy burden upon the al-
ready over-taxed community.
"In addition to the immediate and energetic mea-
sures which, in the opinion of your memorialists, can
alone preserve the peace and good order of society,
and relieve your people from that severe distress which
they are now suffering, your memorialists would
respectfully urge your Majesty to recommend the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, without delay, to
institute a complete and careful inquiry into the ope-
ration and consequences of the monetary system of
this country, in order that, if the existing system
shall be found to interfere with the well-being of your
Majesty's people, and your memorialists have painful
experience that it does so interfere, it may at once be
brought to an end, and a system adopted in its stead
which shall promote and maintain the substantial in-
terests of all classes of your Majesty's subjects.
"Your memorialists, as faithful subjects of your
Majesty, do not hesitate to declare to your Majesty
that the real and enduring interests of your Majesty's
people have been and are still improperly neglected
by your Majesty's advisers. Measures which, in the
opinion of your memorialists, should claim the first at-
tention of the executive Government and of the Legisla-
ture have not received that earnest consideration which
their importance demanded ; and the arrangements
of political parties and the possession of political in-
fluence have been the principal objects pursued by
those in whose hands are placed the destinies of the
nation. Your Majesty's advisers are unhappily chosen
exclusively from a class of men who have no means of
obtaining a practical knowledge of the condition of
your people, and who are for the most part unable to
form a sound opinion on questions affecting trade and
commerce, and the employment of the population.
Your memoralists would respectfully represent that
your Majesty's advisers should give the most ready
and careful attention to the representations of those
parties on whom the employment and subsistence of
immense numbers of your people depend. The fre-
quent representations of :these parties, your memo-
rialists are bound to state, have not on all occasions
received their due weight ; and while the fatal effects
of bad legislation have been strenuously denied, the
sufferings of a much enduting people, in a country
blessed by Providence with an abundance of blessings,
have been unwiselyattributed to the causes over which
the Government had no control. Your memorialists are
of opinion that the industry of your people, and the re-
sources ofyour coun try, are sufficient to secure the well-
being of all classes of the population ; and they indig-
nantly deny the assumption that frequent and general
distress, arising from the want of employment, is the
result of any natural causes. On the contrary, your
memorialists assert that the sufferings of your people
are mainly, if not entirely, to be attributed to those
legislative measures which interfere with and control
the production and distribution of those things which
are necessary for the sustenance and comfort of the
population ; and that the humiliating spectacle of wil-
ling labourers unable to obtain employment would
never be exhibited were the artificial restrictions upon
the trade and commerce and industry of the country
to be removed.
"On these grounds, your memorialists earnestly
pray that your Majesty will take into consideration
the condition of the population of the United King-
dom, and exercise your authority upon your Minis-
ters, in order that your suffering people may receive
timely relief, and that the dangers to which society
is at this time exposed may be averted. Your memo-
rialists have had abundant proofs durin
Majesty's reign that the welfare of y g your
our people is
the object of your Majesty's earnest aspirations and

your memorialists, 'While appealing to rour Majesty
on behalf of the unemployed and destitute, and on
behalf of those who vainly offer their labour for the
means of subsistence, feel that they shall not appeal

in vain.
" And your memorialists will ever pray for the
prosperity of your Majesty's throne and kingdom."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
POST.--A great discovery has been put forth by
the expounder of Mr. Jones Loyd's economical and
monetary maxims. The country, we are assured, is
living on its capital, consuming more than it pro-
duces, eating up its substance, anticipating the re-
sources of posterity, and drawing on the means and
energies of future generations. If it were granted
that this is so, it would be well to examine and dis-
tinctly ascertain the causes that lead to so anomalous
a predicament in a nation possessing greater hid:lstria!
skill and energy than any on ancient or modern
record, and posses.ing„ moreover, an unexampled ac-
cumulation of all the physical agencies and materials
for keeping this skill and energy in productive
motion. Let us point to only one or two of the
reasons why, if we are not growing actually poorer,
we are losing opportunities of making ourselves a
great deal richer; and if these reasons become clear
and self-apparent, they will furnish a key to many
others, all converging to the same effect. There
are now some hundreds of thousands of adult
labourers out of employment in Great Britain, every
one of whom, pending the duration of his idleness,
is daily diminishing the quantity of wealth, or capital,
or national means, accumulated in former years
by the industry of himself and others like him. It
matters not how the unemployed weaver, or carriage
builder, or miner, or excavator lives, whether in the
workhouse, the gaol, or the cheerless and fireless
garret—whether on pillage, on the poor-rate, or on
casual charity; eat he must while he has life, and his
family, large or small, must do the same; and while
this process goes on, the consumers in the meantime
not filling up by productive work the void their daily
subsistence makes in the general stock of capital, the
destruction of so much capital goes on uninterruptedly
to the extent consumed by the idle masses of the po-
pulace. Here is one of the self-proven cases in which,
with respect to very considerable classes of the people,
the country, unquestionably, is trenching on its ac-
quired resources, and encroaching on the fund which
ought to be left for posterity. There is next to
be considered the extraordinary fact, that the
[ labour of these idle people is actually wanting
at this moment, not for purposes of hypo-
thetical utility, but for occupations that
would forthwith produce an increase in the
riches of the nation. The master manufacturers of
Manchester are also to a great extent living on ca-
pital, and not on profits, at this moment; mills
stopped and workmen starving; and, simultaneously
with this, the factory owner has in his counting-
house orders for large quantities of wrought articles,
the execution of which would set mill and money in
motion, throw money into circulation amongst small
and large dealers, and bring to the factory master
some little return of the profits to which his opera-
tions have been long a stranger. His orders are in
his hands, but he cannot perform them, because
governmental regulations have made the use of money
so dear that, if he called into action, the extortionate
price he must pay for the temporary accommodation
would not only exceed his margin of profit, but leave
a loss even more ruinous than that which he sustains
from the inactivity of his fixed capital and the ad-
ditional tax he has to pay for the support
of the unemployed poor. Thus, in Manchester,
and in other towns similarly circumstanced,
there is a large body of persons, masters
and operatives, who are not only subsisting by
continuously diminishing the common fund of wealth,
but are further precluded, by the definite operation of
a particular law, from adding to, instead of decreas-
ing, this fund. The product of labour, when there
is a natural market, being always in excess of the
consumption of the labourer, we are losing, besides
the cost of the unemployed artisan's support, the
whole difference between the amount of his food and
clothing and the sale price of the commodities his in-
dustry could create. It is quite true that the
machine power and the human labour of Manchester
would, if kept in regular motion, produce much more
than could find buyers in the markets now open to
them. But that circumstance belongs to another and
a different field of the argument. The immediate
fact before us is, that there are buyers waiting for
considerable quantities of goods, which the Manches-
ter man is able and anxious to manufacture for them,
were his hands not tied up by a currency system
that denies the use of those counters or symbols
of value which are necessary, in the first place,
to pass between him and the subordinate agents
of production. Nothing would be more easy than to
extend this illustration, by reference to the condition
of innumerable other callings, whose produce public
accommodation or public necessity demands, but
which are kept motionles=, and condemned to con-
sume, without producing, through the same unhappy
influence we have referred to above. But we choose
on this occasion to specify the case of the manufac-
turing interest in particular, because, unfortunately
for themselves, many gentlemen connected with this
interest have been amongst the conspicuous suppor-
ters of the circle of false commercial theorists to which
the bullion system belongs, and which, we sincerely
believe, are calculated to operate as injuriously upon
themselves as upon any other section of the commu-
nity. We are not without hope that the bitter expe-
rience of these times will bring many of these men,
who have differed from us most widely, to make
themselves better acquainted with the principles
which we have advocated, with a view to the welfare
of our fellow-countrymen engaged in manufactures,
quite as much as for the sake of any class whatever.
We can assure them that, when they do so, they will
see their way to a policy which will give no pretext
for saying, truly or falsely, that, in time of profound
peace, the country is forestalling its means, and eating
up the resources that should be left as the heritage of
posterity.
HERALD.--One of the numerous eccentricities
of the County Courts appeared a few days ago in a
motion in the Exchequer for a writ of prohibition to
stay certain proceedings in the County Court of
Worcestershire. It appeared that the plaintiff's in
3,000 suits in this county court had supplied from
time to time necessaries to labourers of the defen-
dants, who are railway contractors, until the debt
amounted to a considerable sum. The debt, of
course, as against the defendants, who had given but
one order, was a single debt, and should hare been
sued for in some of the superior courts. Such, how-
ever, did not meet the views of some ingenious attor-
ney, who brought actions on each small account to
the amount of 3,000, upon which actions the costs
would amount to about 54,0001. This, we say, is
one eccentricity of a court for the administration of
cheap law. The Lord Chief Baron, on granting the
rule applied for, might well remark, that if this prac-
tice obtained, the New County Courts' Act might be
called an Act for the increasing of costs. The County
Courts' Act is, like most:otherlrecent pieces of legis-
lation, defective. The practice also which has sprung
up under it is as yet frequently oppressive, encou-
raging unnecessary extortions, and is universally
complained of. This is the proper time to point out
these defects, that they may be remedied before the
impregnable embankment of vested rights begins
to grow up amid the errors and blunders
of the system. Under the late regulation of
paying the officials out of the fees, it is not remark-
able that the fees should have risen to the enormous
sum to which it was found they had attained.
A solicitor complains that on one occasion, in one of
these courts, a second fee was demanded from his
clerk for a rehearing, although the case had been
postponed on the previous day by the act of the
court; and that again, in another case, where it had
been attempted to ascertain from the clerk of the
court, whether a summons had been served (as sum-
monses are served by an officer of the court), that
functionary declined to say. When, however, the
fee for a hearing had been paid, then it turned out
that no summons whatever had been served. Under
this fostering system, it is not astonishing that fees of
court should marvellously increase. A great deal
was hoped at the creation of these tribunals, from the
supposition that persons were to make them the in-
struments of a mutual arrangement—that the plaintiff
and defendant should meet face to face, and such de-
crees should be made, as to time for payment,
.&e.,
as would make the collection of debts more certain to
the creditor and more easy to the debtor than it had
ever been before. Under this notion the employ-
ment of attorneys was discouraged that the eniolu-
ments of the gentlemen of that profession might be
deducted from the costs. The result, however, has
been, that the fees likely to go to solicitors, and
which do go to them in other courts, were in these
courts, till lately, allotted to the officers, and are
still paid by the suitors, any arrangement of the
after-destination of the money notwithstanding.
The poor ofcourt
Another evil, however, and one not anticipated, has
arisen from the discouragement of attorneys, coupled
uping
with the
legal o costs.
Th
el mind. A England awriethnotthemkeuecrt gifted
of law to them is still a mysterious and awful
place, and they naturally look for •
assistance from
some person esteemed to be learned in dealing with
such tribunals. In the case of the Count Courts
infamous poor have fallen • t
o the hands f
infamous of all o those most
rogues, the "agents"
approaches of the cri who infest the
tudes of those individualsna courts. Multi-
selves have withdrawn them-
from criminal to civil •
preferred the fleecing f • practice, and
county courts to th .0.. Ignorant suitors in the
e robbing of the friends of pri-
soners. The encouragement of this class is the
natural result of excluding from the practice men
over whom the control of
their profession exists. No
precautions which the judges of these courts can take
will prevent the employment of these "agents." If

IMPORTANT POST-OFFICE NOTICE.—This morning
a notice was posted at the General Post office, that
hereafter any writing or marks will be allowed on news-
papers passing by post between one part of the Unit d
Kingdom and another, provided that a postage stamp
for one penny is affixed conspicuously on the newspaper
or cover. On letters now bearing postage being post( 3
and delivered in the same town no extra stamp is requi-
site ; but the writing must be on the newspaper only :
any writing or mark on the cover, " o Cher than the ad-
dress," will render the newspaper liable to be chargel
according to weight.
MR. THOMAS DUNCOMBE, M.P.—The medica
advisers of the Honourable Member for Finsbury ha, e
recommended his temporary retirement from public lit,.
The lion. Gentleman is about to " pair off" tor the en-
suing session, and purposes sojourning for a few months
at Lisbon, to recruit his health.—Post.
CLEANING WINDOWS.—There is a very beneficial
provision in the Town Police Clauses 'Act, passed in
July last (10th and 11th Victoria, chap. 89), with respect
to window-cleaning:—" Every occupier of any house or
other building or other person who orders or permits
any person in his service to stand on the sill of at y
window in order to clean, paint, or perform any other
operation upon the outside of such window, or upon any
house or other building, within the said limits, unless
such window be in the sunk or basement stor: ," is liable
to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings, or fourteen days' imprisonment, and may be taken into custot:y
without a warrant. In the same category appears the
following offence, which may be treated in a sinaih.r
manner:--" Every person who flies any kite or makes or
uses any slide upon ice or snow."
MURDEROUS ASSAULT AT BRIGHTON.—On Satur-
day
evening it was reported that a man had attemptede
to murder the potman, Mitchell, at the Railway publei,:
house, which is situated at the north end of Ssur_rro,ai
street, close to the Brighton terminus. It apepder,Viain
inquiries which we havemade,
Baxter went into the taproomthaotffa
abandonedu character.
tmheaupuubTic-house on
Saturday evening with a woman o
and behaved in such an indecent manner that Mr. Pen-
fold, the landlord, ordered the woman to be turned out,
which was done forthwith. Baxter remained for some
time afterwards ; and when Mitchell went into the
room at a later period of the evening, to tell him it WWI
time to go, Baxter rushed upon him and struck him.
The blow was returned by Mitchell, who was the
stronger of the two, and would have had the best of the
fight, if other means than fistathad not been resorted to.
Baxter, feeling his inefficiency to cope with the potman,
drew a knife from his pocket, and inflicted a dreadful'
wound in Mitchell's eye ; he then made another
thrust, and cut him over the other eye, and then
stabbed him in the chest, but fortunately the
deadly instrument struck must have against the bone, otherwise
it been fatal. By this time his cries for
assistance brought persons to his aid, and the villain
who had inflicted the injury was secured. By some
means the savage assailant had got a wound across tile
back of his hand in the c ffie
s.O , and both of them were
taken to the County Hospital, the unfortunate potman
being covered with blood. Mitchell wa already blind
in the eye which received the firstitche injurys ; had the blow
fallen on the other eye, he must have been deprived of
sight, for the socket was literally gouged out, and pre-
sented a shocking sight. The knife had gone quite into
the orbit. The wound over the right temple extended
between three and lour inches, and the wound across the
chest about two inches in breadth. It is consolatory t)
know that the poor fellow is likely to recover,
althoughta
waist
several days must elapse before he will be in a fit state
to be examined. It is rather singular that the ;st on
which Baxter received his wound was a stiff joint, which
ho dislocated some years ago, lie is
hos-
pital, and exceedingly sullen. I
isotielml ina theis
withhim night and day. The instrument
wounds wero inflicted has
not,
sothat of a touter for fl) a,
MAZl:uwnditehrswtahnidc,hbet::
found. Baxter's occupation
and he has been hanging about the terminus for some
time.—Brighton Gazette.
Philips,
Bart., died possessed
The late Sir George
property amounting
of Warwick,
which, with
of personal
his freeholds in the counties of Warwick, Wiircestar,
Oxford, Gloucester, Lancaster, and elsewhere, he has
les
sole s son, Sir George Richard Philips, Bart., M.Pft to hi
~
hi executor.