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

trast the " lliad " and " Paradise Lost," and tho
" 2Eneid" and the " Jerusalem Delivered " into
mere grains of dust, into something very little
short of absolute nothingness. We accept Mr.
Bailey himself as the Coming Man—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, lot
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 !

T.HE LATE JOSKPH HUME, ESQ., AND
THE BANK CHARTER ACT OF 1844.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sir, There is something remarkable in the fact
that, with the exception of the war, the two subjects for
the moment occupying the attention of the public are the
Bank Charter Act of 1814, 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 sumo extracts from a correspondence I had with
Mr. Hume on that subject, and I do so under the 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 iejunction 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 but
the fall of the Bank Charter Act of 1844, and show how
much the interests of the many were sacrificed to political
objects and class interests. It appears from them that a
well-known banker (the present Lord Overstone) conceived
"that ho could regulate the amount of paper currency"—
an article, be it observed, without intending to impute
any selfish motive, in which bankers more especially deal,
and, 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 R. 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 not 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 coaltsc-
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 tho 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 Cie 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 in 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 have monuments through the land to Sir R. Peel, and
justly he deserved them for carrying out, at the sacrifice 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 R. Peel himself admitted the country
was indebted fur 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-
ing it not merely to commodities, but to the medium for
circulatiug 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 medium, 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,
Your obedient servant,
HAMER STAXSFELD.
The Grange, Burley, near Utley,
Dec. 20th, 1855.

(Extract from Mr. Efume's letter.)
Burnley Hall, 14th Nov., 1853.
Your letter to Mr. Gladstone is in my opinion quite
correct, and my exertions in the committee of 1848 would
have repealed tho act of Peel of 1814, as inconsistent with
the principles of Free Trade, and my resolution iu that
committee to that purpose was lost by the casting vote 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 wore Lord John, Sir C.
Wood, Mr. Gou'burn, Sir R. Peel, and one other I forget
—against three others that voted with me. Mr. Baring,
dr. Disraeli, and four others who were against the act of
1814, stayed away and would not vote, for some reason I
never could 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 1814-5, at
present the reproach of Free Traders, !Rust be repealed,
and lam pleased to see you stirring in that direction. I
hope you way be able to get a good petition up by and bl-v,
when the Parliarne...tary Reform shall be settled, and Free
Trade in circulation must also.he established.

Burnley Hall, 23d January, 1854.
I have carefully read your letter to the Editors of the
Leeds Mercury on the existing Currency Lars of 1841.5.
sir Rol,t. 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 deposits
in the Bank of England were not part of the currency.
These were the two fallacies of Mr. Jones Loyd, and the
-perusal of the evidence will show how he brokedown under
ny examination, and left the committee-room ; nor would
he even 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 pow er, in 1841-5, induced the
House of Commons to pass these restrictive and injurious
acts.

In the inquiry before the Lords' Committee, in 1813,
part of which evidence you have quoted in your letter just
published, the injury to tho commerce of the country in
1817, from the laws of 1811-5, is clearly made out, and re-
pelted, 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 complete; and
when the consideration of the report came on, my draft re-
port, " recommending the repeal of at these restrictive Acts,"
would have been carried, it Mr. Thos. Baring, Mr. B. 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 (3Larles 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 is 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 1814-5 from the statute-book, although the great
variations in the value of money in the years since 1818
'have exceeded aoy changes before 1814.
I am pleased that you arc now.urgiug the subject on the
attention of the public, and I hope it may obtain that in•
tei est which it requires.
[N.B. The words in italics were underlined in th
letter.]

SUICIDE OF MB. JOHN SADLEIR, M.P.

Although until the nature 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 mortem examination per-
formed yesterday and other facts which have come 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, Gloucester-
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 coffee,
and, as he required nothing farther, the servants, as
was usual with them at that hour, retired to rest, leav-
ing their master up drinking his coffee. Whether he
went out immediately after taking the coffee, or re-
mained in until early the following morning, and then
strolled up to Hampstead, no one can say, but the latter
is the presumption, although at the same time it is cer-
tain that he did not go to bed that night, as his bed was
found undisturbed the following (Sunday) morning, and
when the servants got up they found their master ab-
sent. Indeed his hours were to uncertain, on account
of his Parliamentary duties, that the servants were not
alarmed at his absence on the Morning in question, for
they considered he might have made an appointment
hleat.ists:ileittgehleueitspiirbeaovmdioypusstweanaidsg,hfato.tunjdllnoekonslwyt ar saaw
senwTt haievaerrhons be. ,
from
ilaonomdf
that inn. It has been erroneously stated that, filo
deceased's remains 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 came
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 spot, and
there found the deceased lying as if asleep on a small
mound, which he had evidently expressly picked 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, It
the
body was then warm. Inspector Green
paper, on
removed to the workhouse, and, upon
h S dl Jo n a eir,
g
which was written in a clear bold hand,
There
ehxaode,
ituhieo b otdb
the
deceased's pockets he found a small slip of
11, Gloucester-square, Hyde Park.
some some money, in gold and notes, in the deceased's 13. ckets,
erdasnoorsdaonudbsteveral lumps
intended to
asof
liamlefoeuagacra,sewcboixeibtatihneindgeotweaeo
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, so that the poor
man must have prepared it with the express intention of
its 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 residing in
Ireland.