The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-19 00:00:00

THE LATE ,TOSHP_FI HUME, ESQ., AND
THE BANK CHARTER ACT OF 1844.

TO TIM EDITOR Of TM: SUN,.
Sir, There is something remarkable in the fact
that, with the exception of the war, tie two sabjects for
the moment occupying the attention of the public are the
Bank Charter Act of 1844, and the means of rendering
honour to its greatest opponent, the late J. Hume, Esq.
I avail myself of this fortunate coincidence to beg your in-
sertion of some extracts from a correspondence I had with
Mr. Hume on that subject, and I do so under tho convic-
tion that I am acting in conformity with his wishes, and
at the same time indulge the hope that now that his voice
no longer can be heard, his wishes may have the greater
influence, and be considered as an injunction to his coun-
trymen to carry out his object, namely, the obtaining a
repeal of that act, and substituting in its place free trade
in the circulating medium.
His letters furnish a short history of the rise and all bet
the fall of the Bank Charter Act of 1844, and show how
much the interests of the many were sacrificed to political
objects and close interests. It appears from them that a
well-known banker (the present Lord Overstone) conceived
"that he could regulate the anselat of paper eureacy"—
an article, be it observed, without intendieg he impute
any selfish motive, in which bankers more especially deal,
mad, consequently, they are not the best calculated to re-
gulate its quantity impartially. It further appears that
the views of this banker were adopted by Sir It. Peel, and
embodied by him in the act of 1814—that on the breaking
down of the act in 1847, and on its reconsideration by a
committee of the House of Commons, its restrictions would
have been repeated, " had net Sir R. Peel obtained, in
exchange for his support of Lord J. Russell's Cabinet,
their votes to leave the Act as it was."
Here we find the two great parties of the State coaleac-
ing with the monied interests to maintain an Act which
gives the same protection to money that the Corn Laws
gave to corn—raising the rate of interest on the former to
the benefit of the money holder, as the sliding scale en-
hanced the value of the latter for the advantage of the
landholder.
Let the mercantile and industrial classes bear in mind
that Ministers are dependent for their places on the votes
of Coe members of the House of Commons, and these again
for their seats on the votes of the electors, and, consequently,
that they have the power iu their own hands of procuring
a sounder monetary system ; and let them be assured
that no Ministers will grapple with this monstrous money
monopoly, and risk the loss of office, unless supported by
the country, through its representatives in Parliament.
We hare monuments through the land to Sir R. Peel, and
justly he deserved them for carrying out, at the sacritiee of
his own power and party, those Free Trade measures of
which Mi. Hume was the parent; for to his committee on
import duties Sir It. Pool himself admitted the country
was indebted for his Free-Trade Bills. How much more
then are monuments due to Mr. Hume, who was through-
out consistent and faithful to the principles, now so uni-
versally acknowledged to be sound, of Free Trade, apply-
jug it not merely to commodities, but to the medium for
circulating those commodities. He was truly the apostle
of Free Trade, and no nobler monument could be raised
to his memory than an Act of Parliament establishing free
trade in the circulating nwdium, based on the principle
enunciated in his draft report submitted to the committee
of the House of Commons on the commercial distress of
1847. Such would be a worthy testimonial to one of the
most single-minded and honest patriots that ever adorned
this country. _

I am, Sir,
Yottr obedient servant,
HAMER STANSFELD.
The Grange, Burley, near Otiejr,
Dec. 20th, 1855.

(Extract from Mr. Hume's letter.)
Burnley Hall, 14th Nev., 1853.
Your letter to Mr. Gladstone is in my opinion quite
correct, and my exertions in the committee of 1848 would
hays repealed the act of Peel of 1144, as inconsistent with
the priuciplos of Free Trade, and my resolution in that
committee to that purpose was lost by the casting 'rote of
Sir Robert Peel.

He was so much in favour of those bills, though sup-
ported only by the chair of the Bank, that he obtained in
exchange for his support of Lord John Russell's Cabinet
their votes to leave those bills as they were.
We divided five to four—the five were Lord John, Sir C.
Wood, Mr. Goulborn, Sir R. Peel, and one other I forget
—against three others that voted with me. Mr. Baring,
h.fr.°Di4raeli, and four others who were against the act of
1844, stayed away and would not vote, for some reason I
never oould learn, and thus the glaring absurdity was
allowed to remain, a reflection to the common sense of all
Free Traders.
The time must come soon when these acts of 1844-5, at
present the reproach of Free Traders, must be repealed,
and lam pleased to see you stirring in that direction. 1
hope you may be able to got a good petition up by and bye,
when the Parliameatary Reform shall be settled, and Flee
Trade iu circulation must also ba established.

Burnley Hall, 23d January, 1854.
I have carefully read your letter to the Editors of the
Leeds Mercury on the existing Currency Lairs of 1844-5.
Sir Robt. Peel never committed so great an error in any
of his public measures as he did in passing the acts of
1841-5, for, as he alleged, " the regulations and the restric-
tion of the paper currency."
As a member of that committee on the Bank of England,
of which Sir Charles Wood was chairman, I had the op-
portunity of observing that Sir Robt. Peel, Sir C. Wood,
Mr. Warburton, and almost every member (the member
for Birmingham alone excepted), were under the influence
of Mr. Jones Loyd's opinions, viz., " that he could regulate
the amount of paper currency," and, further, that deposit•
in the Bank of England were not part of the currency.
Thole were the two fallacies of Mr. Jones Loyd, and the
perusal of the evidence will show how he broke down under
my examination, and left the committee-room ; nor would
lie oven have returned to finish his examination if I had
not consented to limit my questions, and these, with the
answers of Mr. Loyd, are before the public.
Sir Robert Peel never could get free from these delu-
sions ; and when he had the power, in 1844-5, induced the
House of Commons to pass these restrictive and injurious
acts.

Ia the inquiry before the Lords' Committee, is 184 w,
part of which evidence you have quoted in your letter just
published, the injury to the commerce of the country in
1847, from the laws of 1814-5, is clearly made out, and re-
ported to the Lords.
In the committee of the Commons, in 1848, on the same
subject, " Commercial Distress," I consider that the proof
against these Acts of Sir Robert Peel was eomplete ; and
when the consideration of the report came OR, my draft re-
port, "recommending the repeal of all these restrictive Acts,"
would have been carried, if Mr. Thos. Baring, Mr. E. Dis-
raeli, and other members had not purposely absented
themselves from the discussion and from the division on
the report; and the draft report of Sir Charles Wood was
carried by a majority of one only. Lord John Russell who
had not attended the sittings of the committee, or taken
any part in the discussions, attended, and gave his vote to
Sir R. Peel, by which no change was recommended; and
from that time no attempt has been made to remove those
Acts of 1844-5 from the statute-book, although the great
variations in the value of money in the years since 1848
have exceeded any changes before 1814.
I am pleased that you are now urging the subject on the
attention of the public, and I hope it imay obtain that in-
terest which it requires.
[N.B. The words in italics were underlined in th
letter.]

SUICIDE OF MR. JaTIN SADLEIR, M.P.

Although until the mature of the evidence as to the
motive which induced Mr. Sadleir to commit suicide be
known nothing positive can be stated, yet there seems
to be an impression that the deceased had disordered his
mind by over-speculation. That the deceased com-
mitted suicide the medical post mortars examination per-
formed yesterday and other facts which have comae to
light distinctly prove. It seems that the deceased was
at his club up till half-past 10 on Saturday night, at
which hour he returned to his residence, 11, Gloueestme
square. At the club his friends observed nothing strange
in his manner, and when he arrived home he seemed in
his usual calm state of mind. He then ordered coifee,
and, as he required nothing further, the servants, as
was usual with them at that hour, retired to rest, leav-
ing their master up
drinking his coffee. Whether he
' but the latter
went out immediately after taking the coffee, or re-
mained in until early the following morning, and then
isstrtohlleedpruepsotmo
presumption, although
gniox
aotntehce same
nsmaye
time it is cer-
tain that he did not go to bed that night, as kis bed was
found undisturbed the following (Sunday) morning, and
aoswelfahohretmi.ns
etpdhlaeoarditsioaerhrtedivseahnnai
tstbassrhegylooi
cutderunotps
iue
werets
they ,
hteh
sof oulliancde uncertain, omnasatec account
uanbt-
matortnhiengservants
eswtieoroe, notfor
they considered he might have made an appointment
late the previous night. He was in the habit of
staying at Hampstead, at Jack Straw's Tavern, and
his lifeless body was found only a few yards from
that inn. It has been erroneously stated that the
deceased's remain, were discovered by the police, but
they were found by a man named Bates, a donkey
driver, who at half-past eight on Sunday morning was
proceeding in search of a strayed animal, when he carne
upon the corpse as it lay at about 150 yards from Jack
Straw's Castle, on the west side of the heath, and close
to a small footpath which leads down from the flagstaff
at the top of the hill. Bates immediately hurried to the
police-station. Inspector Green (S division) and other
members of the force at once proceeded to the spots, and
all
there found the deceased lying
as
if
asleep on
a m
mound, which he bad evidently expressly plck •d out for
the occasion, and a silver cup, together with a large-
sized bottle, marked with several labels, Poison," by
his side. Life had been extinct some time, although the
body was then warm. Inspector Green had the body
removed to the workhouse, and, upon examining tl
slip of ,
deceased's pockets he found a small
on
which was written in a clear bold ,Land, "John Sadleir,
11, Gloueester-squar , Hyde Park. There was also
some money, in gold and notes, in the deceased's pockets,
as also a case containing two razors and several lumps
of loaf sugar, which the deceased no doubt intended to
take with the poison. Inspector Green, through the
slip of paper alluded to, was at once enabled to send to
town and have the deceased identified, the writing on
the paper being recognised as his own, go that the poor
wan must have prepared it with the express intention of
itg being the means of leading to his identification. The
silver cup was immediately recognised as the deceased's
own property through its bearing his crest. The bottle
which had contained the poison, and which would hold
at least half a pint, was not only labelled in several
places with the word "poison," but the leather covering
over the stopper had the same word written thrice across
it in large letters. The deceased was a bachelor, and
the melancholy event was in the course of yesterday
telegraphed to his only relative, a brother Neiding in
Ireland.

tract the "Iliad " and " Paradise Lost," and the
" 2Eneid" and the " Jerusalem Delivered" into
mere grains of dust, into something very little
short of absolute nothingness. We accept Mr.
Bailey himself m the Coming Alan—actually
Come at last. And having acknowledged all
this, and eaten dirt (as the Orientals have it)
Without a wry face, and swallowed every-
thing most submissively—do, for goodness sake, let
us hope that Mr. Bailey's admirers will at last let
us enjoy in peace and quietness the Fool's Paradise
with which they have provided us 1