The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-24 00:00:00

MANCHESTER, AUG.
_23:

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Birkenhead, Lanca-
shire, and Cheshire Junction, 9 3-16 dig.—North Staf-
fordshire, 4 dis.—South-Eastern and Dover, No. 4, 67,8
Caledonian, Preference, 5-16 p.—Leeds, Preference, A p.—
Sheffield, Old, 541,6 —North Union (A), 200—Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, Preference, 10.
BIRMINGHAM, Auo. 23.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—North Staffordshire;
374 dis.—Birmingham and Dudley, 37/,, p.
YORK, AUG. 22. _

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The business transacted to-day was
as follows:—Great Northern, 7% n.—North British, Thirds,
uls. dia.—York, Newcastle, and Berwick (G. N. E. Pur-
chase), 814.

GLASGOW, Aua. 22._

STOCK ExcHANGt:.—The sales are—Aberdeen, 20—Cale-
donian, Preference, 535. d.—Eastern Counties, New, 5%—
Edinburgh and Glasgow, Halves, 10—Glasgow, Kilmarnock,
and Ayr, 104—Ditto, Halves, No 1,6/. Bs. 6d.--Ditto,
Halves, No. 2, 6w—Glasgow and Greenock, 14%—Great
Northern, 7111—North British, Thirds, 41s. 6d.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.
CAMBRIDGE, AUG. 21. .

(PaoM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.)
CHRONICLE.—AIthough we approve of the mode in
which the House of Commons disposed, on Tuesday night,
of Mr. Herries' attempt to induce his two-and-forty hearers
to bind over their six hundred absent colleagues to a mortal
discussion, in February next, of the Bank Act of 1844, it is
from no desire to see the discussion of that measure evaded,
to exclude from publicity whatever inculpatory statements
are contained in the report made by one, and the evidence
taken by each of the Houses of Parliament. Assuredly
these documents deserve to be well sifted and considered ; and
as supporters of the Act, it is our desire that this should be
done. The principal grounds relied upon by the Right
Honourable Gentleman for regarding the favourable
verdict of the Select Committee as disentitled to
weight, were first, that the composition of that body
rendered it an unfair tribunal secondly, that its
report was at variance with the bulk of the evidence; and,
lastly, that the Committee of the House of Lords, whose Re-
port was framed, as he thught, more in accordance with
that evidence, had directly condemned the provisions of the
Act. In answer to the first charge much has been said
already which it seems needless to repeat. The real ques-
tion is, whether a fair proportion of all who hold prominent
views, or represent prevailing doctrines, have been ap-
pointed; and, above all, whether the Committee fairly re-
presents the entire body from which it derives its powers.
Now, according to either of these tests, the composition of
the Committee cannot fairly be impugned. Its majority
comprised the principal financial members of the past
and the present Administrations; but in its minority
were the leaders or representatives of every sect and
school of currency, theorists known to the public.
There were Mr. Wilson, Mr. Spooner, Mr. Cayley,
Mr. Muntz, Lord George Bentinck, Mr. Disraeli,
li
Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Herries himself. Again, that the ma-
jority of the Committee perfectly represented the majority of
the House, we apprehend to be beyond dispute. The debates
in November last, and on subsequent occasions, have clearly
manifested the state of opinion that prevails in the present
Parliament. Under these circumstances, it appears not a
little unreasonable to complain that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in forming his Committee, did not throw the
balance of Members into the opposite scale. Next, as to the
objection that the report is contrary to the evidence. If we
measure it by quantity it may be true ; and the same result
is not unfrequent even in the trials of courts of justice, since
the conclusion that is adopted is not that of the witnesses but
of the jurors, who sift the testimony and adjudicate on its
value. The most eminent and experienced statesmen of the
country were selected as a tribunal to try the merits of the
Act of 1844, with such information and assistance as the
evidence of professional and practical men could afford them ;
but if the latter were themselves more competent to de•
cide the question than the wisdom of Parliament, the inves-
tigation by a Committee at all was a vein and cumbrous
superfluity. We value and respect, as highly as Mr. Her-
ries can do, the intelligence and sagacity of those leading
members of the trading community whose opinions are re-
corded in the Blue-book, but we venture to doubt whether,
after all, the practical man, as he is called, the professional
banker, or the merchant immersed in business, however
valuable witnesses as to facts, are the persons best qualified
to form a sound legislative opinion upon the subjects in
which they are interested. We do not consider lawyers
the best judges as to what the law ought to be; we would
not be guided by naval men as to the policy of the naviga-
tion-laws, nor by schoolmasters upon the subject of
national education. The report of the Lords' Com-
mittee was evidently drawn, as Sir R. Peel observes, by no
friendly hand to the Act, for it implies an hostility which it
does not venture to embody in any broad or efficient propo-
sition. Able, dexterous, and elaborate as the document is,
it is stultified by its lame and impotent conclusion. After
convicting the Act of a material aggravation of the panic of
October, and arraigning its inefficiency to regulate the
value of money, to restrain wild speculation, or to check the
abuse of credit, it does not venture to suggest its repeal, or
even its modification, except in one respect—a power of self-
relaxation, which was contemplated at one time by the au-
thors of the law themselves, but advisedly repudiated by them
upon cogent reasons. And to whom is it proposed by the Com •
inittee to entrust this power? Strange to say that after
giving an implied, though negative, sanction to the
principle of the Act, which is avowedly founded upon a dis-
trust of the responsibility of the Bank of England, and after
exhibiting fully In their own report, with quotations from
the evidence to the same effect, that erroneous management
of the Bank authorities which precipitated the crisis of April,
1847, the Committee have concluded in favour of vesting the
dispensing power in the authorities of the Bank itself. If
the statute is to be thus amended, and Mr. Herries should
be disposed to bring in a Bill for that purpose early in the
next session, we venture to suggest to him that an alteration
in the title of the Act of 1844 is absolutely necessary, and we
would propose the following amendment:—" An Act to re-
strict the Bank of England from extending its issues, and
also for enabling the Bank of England to dispense with such
restriction."

POST.—No one disputes the adroitness of Sir Robert Peel
as a Parliamentary debater. It will be observed that in the
Right Hon. Baronet's speech of Tuesday, upon the Currency
Law of 1844, he commenced in a jesting tone, and talked for
a considerable time upon what he assumed to be the reme-
dial plans of Mr. Spooner, and the theories of a Scotch gen-
tleman of the name of Horner, who died a great many years
ago, and who is chiefly known to the present generation by a
monumental statue in Westminster Abbey. Having done
what he thought enough in this way, he endeavoured to
bring the motion of Mr. Herries into discredit, by showing
how few Members of the House of Commons attended to it.
Ile had himself come down last Tuesday, in order to be pre-
sent at the discussion, and notwithstanding what had
been said about the country feeling intense anxiety on
the subject, be found only thirty-five Members present to
listen to the discussion. On the evening on which he was
speaking he had again come down, and he found there were
only forty-two Members present. Was it, he asked, to be
for a moment supposed that a resolution carried by such a
House would have any great influence with the country?
The Right Honourable Gentleman said that when the time
for discussion did arrive he would be ready to uphold the

policy of maintaining all the restrictions of the Currency Act
of 1844. Mr. Hume, a member of the Committee, declared
in his place in the House on Tuesday night, that every fact
brought forward was against the Act of 1844, and all the
witnesses, with the exception of certain official persons
in the Bank of England, were against it too. He
denied that the report of the Committee of the House
of Commons was entitled to the confidence of the pub.
lic, and affirmed that had the truth been reported, it would
have been to the effect that the measure of 1844, from which
so much good had been anticipated by Sir R. Peel, Sir C.
Wood, and the rest, did really aggravate the evils which it
was intended to remedy. The public, therefore, require from
Sir R. Peel, not a promise that he will discuss the measure
when the proper time comes—not a solemn asseveration that
he has no wish to stifle discussion, but an explanation of the

KING'S COLLEGE.-Mr. Russell Day has been elected a
Fellow of this society.
THE CiwitcH.—The following preferments and appoint-
ments have recently taken place :—The Rev. J. H. Henderson
M.A. (B.A. 1843), Trinity College, to be chaplain to the Earl
of Castlestuart ; the Rev. Charles David Brereton, M.A.
(B.A. 1843), Trinity College, has been instituted to the con-
solidated rectories of Bixley and Framingham Earl, Norfolk;
the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, M.A. (B.A. 1i,37), Trinity
College, to the vicarage of Axminster, Devon ;
the
Rev. James Henry Henderson, M.A. (B.A. 1843), Trinity
College, to be precentor in the Cathedral Church of Ely ; the
Rev. Tansley Hall, M.A. ( B.A. 1833), St. John's College, to
the rectory of Southery. Norfolk ; the Rev. F. C. Crick, M.B.
(B.A. 1830), St. John's College, and late public orator,. has
been instituted to the living of Little Thurlow, Suffolk ;
the Rev. A. Slight (A.B. 1845), St. John's College, to the
perpetual curacy of Alkmonton, Longford, Derbyshire; the
Rev. J. W. Binley, M.A. (B. A. 1837), St. John's College, to
the perpetual curacy of Littledale ; the Rev. J. W. Elger
(13-A, 1835), Queen's College, to the curacy of St. Peter's,
Birmingham ; the Rev. W. T. Dixon, B.A. (1846 ), Catha-
rine Hall, to be head master of the Leeds Moral and In-
dustrial Training School • the Rev. S. F. W. C.Homfrev, M.A
(B.A. 1844), of Catharine Hall, to the rectory of Pudding
Norton, Norfolk; the Rev. W. L. Manley, (B.A. 1846),
Christ's College, to the ministry of the district of
, releigh, Cornwall ; the Rev. W. Stoddart, M.A.
(B.A. 1823), Christ's College, to the head-master-
ship of the Doncaster Municipal Grammar School ;
the Rev. Wm. Rigg, M.A., of Pembroke College,
to the head-mastership of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar
School, Kingston-upon-Thames; the Rev. J. Tidemore,
LL.B. (1840), of Trinity Hall, to the curacy of St. Marv's,
Leicester; the Rev. Charles Pitman Shepherd (B.A. 1846),
Magdalene College, to the evening lectureship of St. Peter's,
Manchester.

lanp dependentp
tahreen ptl
ry e
decisionsdishoneston
oncn conduct
erx.tvphol ifacnltiahtpei roc
Committee
emonft
nt et
id a j
the
tee
e conductuos and
of
Inquiry
bn.
which he succeeded in stifling the judgment which would
jthlhiesest-
je affair—interfered
,erns—iprianßstseoerbdfeehrr
eta d not he—a person directly concerned in
din
Peeli
verys contempt
ready
dayl I theto
testifyor+l na riyn rules
favouro f
of his own measure. He takes care, however, to g,a
as little as possible about the facts which really
test that measure.
" that the restrictive clau‘s'els OlifrtmhleY believe,"Actof
1844 phreeyeexnteeladimthse
country from adding, in April last, to political panic the
dangers
not in April,commercialof
buthi pressure."oct rbe Why
thatspeak e of
action.ki o
April lt
was the
Currency Law
f whenlB44 was
serves
felt.tis pTterpßosige, to Right Honourable
n.ounr,anbelhe
Gentleman
more regard for the practical than the theoretical. Why,
then, does he bring forward his conjectures concerning April,
while he keeps out of view the facts of last October. He
supposes the case of 48,000,000'. of BmarenmokLaproreihd,einrielb,li.eolt3in;higaitnafloat
theiatnk
oflj nritnegdllianidn.gdolT ,w)aysi tehaild. ,01T
15,000,0001. was a dead weight of gold lying
no such thing. The issue of 15,000,000!. was
that the gold had been deposited, and the gold was
guarantee for the convertibility of the whole of the
48,000,0001. 48,000,000/. Looking at the facility of this country
to obtain credit, and looking at the evidence before them 11
did not think that the restrictions of the Act of 1844 could
e
prove injurious." We cannot be surprised, when we read
such passages as this, that plain men should say they really
cannot understand Sir Robert Peel. How can a deposit of
15,000,000/. of bullion by any possibility be a guarantee for
the convertibility into bullion of the whole of 48,000,0001. in
notes? What can be inure evident than that, if it be a
the pound. No doubt, under ordinary circumstances, it
guarantee at all, it is only a guarantee for six shillings in
establishes a probability that the proportion of note-holders
seeking payment in bullion will obtain it tookt it is no
guarantee. If a general rush for pavment place, it is
clear that some would be paid in full and the
greater number not paid at all, or that all would
be paid at the rate of about six shillings in the pound.
When the working of the Act of 1844 first came into dis-
cussion, the House was told (by Lord George Bentinck, if
a certificate uti it was
we rightly recollect) that it was a fair-weather measure,
but utterly unfit for stormy times. It will not be easy to
mend this account of it. So long as credit is abundant, and
there is no pressure for money. the Act of 1844 has no effect
at all. As soon as circumstances call its provisions into
action, then it becomes a horrible infliction upon the country,
and places every branch of industry which is at all connected
with credit at the mercy of usurers. In other words, it con-
signs to ruin all industry which is dependent upon credit.
This is the character of the measure as proved by experience ;
but it suits the convenience of Sir Robert Peel to shirk all
the testimony of experience with regard to its working.
Ile likes better to speak of his belief and his conjecture. If
lie refers to events, it is to something about a gentleman who
was dead and buried long before even the Act of 1819 was in
existence. This is your practical statesman I

liaNT•enhEad WEATHER
out tine. .—A GALE.—Since our last we
it was h great variety of weather. On Saturday morning,
blew at length
showery, with high • Ithe day
awin( early ; Lut turned
Sunday was a beautiful day, clouded over towards
evening. 0
n Maonday, much rain fell, and the wind rising,
some work the
gale from the S.W., which made
for
oat: farmers, by scattering the shocks and
thraves of both
the
onoct wheat. These were blown down and
scattered about;
the wheat.
being lighter, were more generally
thrown about than
;and teiri
city various trees were eth torn up by the roots, or huge
In the neighbourhood of this
Was theo fruit. The maxi'
smaller trees suffered in pro-
limbs broken off them
pro-
portion. We saw a pear tree,
of
inl atdweon
by with
the fruit, of
oo
ff
Mersey which the stein near the top was '
brokenieavily
the gale, aided by the weight
58 degrees Fah-
mum temperature of Monday was
renheit. Yesterday morning
were in heavy flood. The morning was fine,yand the Irwell
sprinkling showers, till about ten o'clock, 1 with slight
thunder shower came on, and the rain tell in torrents.wlen a heavK
occasional gleams of sunshine, the remainder of lliel NWit
wet. The telegraphic returns at seven yesterday morning,'a: was
show the variableness by the variety of the weather at
dif-
ferent places. In the north " much rain ;" at Gosport the
same ; while at Southampton it was " very fine: —Edin-
burgh, W.S.W., much rain • Newcastle, N.W., much rain ;
York, N.W., very fine; HUH, S.W., very fine; Normanton,
W. by S., very fine; Rotherham, S.E., very fine; Liverpool,
W.N.W., very unsettled; Lißncoln,on, E. by
ne; N., very ,
Yarmouth;line
Norwich, westward, cloudy ; rand W. fi
W. fine; Lowestoft, westm aril, cloudy; Nottingham, W.
fine; Derby, S.W., favourable; Leicester, W., fine; Bir-
mingham, S.W., slight rain; Rugby, S.E., moderately fine;
London, S.W., cloudy ; Chelmsford, S.W., cloudy ; Colches-
ter, S E., fine ; Gosport, S.W., much rain ; Southampton,
S. E., fine; Gloucester, S.W., favourable.—,Manchester
Guardian of Wednesday.
COMMITTAL OF A CHARTIST FOR SEDITION.--On
Friday George Webber, a notorious sedition-monger, from
Halifax, was committed by the Bradford magistrates to York
Castle, under a bench warrant, to take his trial at the next
assizes for uttering seditious language at a Chartist meeting
held on Toftshaw Moor, near Bradford, on the 12th of June
last. The prisoner had for a considerable time been in con-
cealment, and he was one of the fourteen persons who were
apprehended early on Wednesday morning last while in
secret conclave at a so-called Temperance coffee-house in
Manchester.

DEATH OF A MEDICAL STUDENT.—Last after-
noon Mr. Bedford concluded, at the George the Fourth,
Gi:burt-passage, Clare-market, an adjourned inquest
upon Joseph Witney, a medical student, who was be-
lieved to have poisoned himself at the " Elysium" wine-
rooms, Bridges-street, under the circumstance already
stated. Dr. Griffin, of King's College hospital, opened
the body, anot gave it as his opinion the deceased's death
was caused by prussic acid. Verdict—" Deceased died of
prussic acid, but how it came into his stomach there was
no evidence."

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—Yester-
day one of those agreeable scenes which awake the most
generous and patriotic sympathies took place at the
above gardens—the Greenwich Hospital School, " the
young
weather
was fin
blue jackets England,"ndkeatsofeOerlydthingcontributed i accompanied by
band, paid their annual visit. Fortunately
to maketunatel itthe
h
an afternoon of complete.v enjoyment. The various at-
tractionsi)l
ayed
,tefuoerh
to which
delight these
gardensghof
the are famous,vas
t company were dui ss..
- -
seemprbelstell;tinAg
anriymbeautiful and appropriate, feu darPfice
r
anchor,
w with a ,
underar seated
saluteon
the stock huzzaing, came ofi' on the
lake
from the castle; the band playing "Rule Britannia,"
and the boys giving three cheers for the emblem of
Britain's supremacy. The concert, both vocal and in-
strumental, gave the greatest satisfaction, and we need
scarcely say that the fireworks were matchless. We
should in justice mention that the proficiency of the
juvenile band was very conspicuous; they'played several
concerted pieces in first-rate style. Altogether the scene
was most delightful, and the boys took their departure
highly pleased with their holiday.
LIE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY.—We hear that
the line will be completed into the town in five months
from the time the plans are given to the contractors ;
and further, we learn that the Torquay branch is to be
finished in three months from the present time. The
terminus will be opposite Mount Pleasant-terrace, where
a commodious and elegant station will be erected.—
Western Luminary.
Lord Newport paired in favour of Lord George
Bentinck's clause and amendments, iu the third reading
of the Sugar Duties sill, with Lord Norreys.

meuarnents. tne readin:: I flow-whiakiuuraxecentiv taken place
.oeuLtneli clause and a aumielas_ j!ii ari nuinae, rtopert-L.49