The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-14 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, April 13.

(Before Mr. Pasbley, Q.C., AssiAtant-Judge.)
The court sat yesterday at Westminster, and proceeded
with appeals. Three parish cases, and the following,
w< re disposed of.
AN

r MBE MARCIA/4D V. A CONVICTION IT MR. BINGHAM.

Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Le Breton appeared for the
appellant; Mr. Orridge, in support of the conviction, by
direction of the court.

The appellant having surrendered,
Mr. Orridge said the conviction was for indecent be-
haviour in a public thoroughfare, she being a common
prostitute. The appellant, a French woman, was one of
the class of prostitutes infesting Regent-street and its
neighbourhood, and it appeared that on the Bth of
January, at five in the afternoon, she was seen by police-
aoustable 299 A, walking up and down, holding up her
petticoats at an extravagant he ght, so as to attract
the attention of gentlemen passing by. The constable
took her into custody for indecent conduct, and on the
following morning she was taken before Mr. Bingham,
who, coneideriug -the case fully proved, committed her
for seven days under the Vagrant Act. She bad been
locked up with other women during the night, and was
removed afterher case had been heard to a cell in which
there were other women of the same clasp, and in half-
an-h ur afterwards she told the gaoler that she could
not have bet n guilty of the offence she was charged with
a 4 she had drawers on. This was told to the magistrate,
who would net, however, alter his decision, as the appel-
lant bad bad an opportunity of procuring that article of
dress from one of the other females in the cell, and did
not make that answer to the charge at first. She was a
known prostitute, and had been in custody for miscon
duct before.
The policeman repeated the evidence he gave before
the magistrate, but would not undertake to swear that
the subsequent assertion of the appellant was untrue.
The Asei.tant-Judge, after the case was concluded,
said, withou• deciding that the policeman said anything
incorrectly or untrue, the court could not in the face of
additional facts, which were not before the megihitrate,
confirm the conviction It tau-t, therefore, be qua,t,ed.
Mr. Inspector Webb was attending to water the case
on behalf of the police.

ORIGIN OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND
AND OF BANKNOTES.

(Front the British Quarterly Review for April.)

"The Bank of England was virtually established by au Ac
(5 and G William and Mary c. 20) for granting several. rates
and duties on tonnage of ships, Ice ,' ou which rates and
duties ' persons whom their Majesties were empowers I. to
incorporate under the na no of the governors and company of
the Bank of England' were to advance 1,200,00)1. The
charter,' says Macpherson,' iwas little more than a piece of
forts, all the essential powers and privileges granted to the
bank being incite led in tOo Act of Parliament.' Baron Macau-
lay, confirming this fact, says, Somers gladly put the great
seal to a charter• framed iu conformity with the terms pre-
scribed by Parliament," The Tonnage Bank,' as the plan was
called, excited, he tells us, a furious paper war,' but the
plan amended received the sanction of the commissioners
more easily than might have been expected.' In tru.h, the
Parliament was under duress. Money must be had, and
could in no other way be had so easily.' For the 1,200,0001.
the moderate interest' of 8 per cent. was given. The bill
granting supplies to the Crown' could not be discussed fully
nor altered is the House of Lords, which, says the historian,
' was most unfair ' The Bank, therefore, bought its charter
by a lean, when the State was in distress for funds, and it
was fastened on the nation by one house of Parliament in a
money bill. From the first it was bound up with taxation
and the State; and, true to its origin, it has ever since been
more the servant of the State than the friend of commerce,
"At the commencement it was not uniformly successful,
and it had to raise money at times by issuing sealed notes,
and several other devices. The corporation,' says Baron
Macaulay, ' was to have no exclusive privilege, and was to be
restricted from trading in anything but bills of exchange
bullion, and forfeited pledges. Having no exclusive privilege,
it soon had rivals. A very notorious incorporation of the
period, called ' The Mine Adventure Company,' Laving issued
cash, notes, &c., the Parliament, by an act for ' continuing
several duties on coffee,' and ' for securing the credit of the
Bank of England' (Anne 6, c. 22), ' prohibiting any partner-
ship exceeding the number of six persons in England from
borrowing or taking up money on bills payable on demand in
any time less than six m nths from the borrowing thereof.'
This Act secured to the Bank of England the exclusive pri-
vilege of so borrowing as against all other incorporations, and
seems to have been the first important restriction imposed by
Parliament on credit currency. From the title, it is evident
that the Act was dictated by the supposed common interest
if the Bank—to which it gave a monopoly—and the Govern-
ment, without any consideration of its future effects. It was
one of the first and chiefestdegislative links iu the connection
then inseparably established between credit currency and
banking, and preserved in all our subsequent legislation. It
was the life germ of all our Bank Acts."

The Suisse of Berne says :
" The verbal report made by Dr. Kern, Minister
at Paris to the Federal Government, confirms the
fact that in the passport affair the Emperor of the
French was perfectly in accord with his Minister
of Foreign Affairs as to the bases of the demeanni.
made, but that he disapproved of the ftorren
des_
tact Au to the difficulty arising
e from
br,. s
1,1103
be-
on which Count Walewski
be-
tween the cantonal governments and the Federal
Kern to
Council, observations were t'yt„ his depar-
the French Government previo.uasdytirao to receive
ture from Paris, but he had II
tinaticri of consuls,
a reply. As regards the n: Is in perfect accord
the Emperor, Dr. Keern,SX Walewski, however,
with his Minister. rehensions of Switzer-
assured Dr. Yerntbatatrii
not founded ; the French
app
land relative to th em
to establish consular agents
Government desiresbut it is disposed to take into
and nothing more,
account any observations made confidentially as to
•re mustances calculated to require a change in the
clpersous chosen.
i The Federal Council will not de-
finitively take into consideration the question of
exequatur to the consuls uotil after Dr. Kern on
his return to Paris skill have had a conference
with Count Walewski. It is probable that in the
end the taequatur will be accorded by 6 votes
tt 1."

scions of icici)nos, 6
packages of sundries.
The dates of sailing were—Gibraltar, April 5;
Cadiz, 6.; Lisbon, 9 ; Vigo, 10.
At Gibraltar were H.M.S. Curlew, the Portu-
guese brig of war Pedro Nunez, and the Swedish•
.. . .
corvette Ormes.

At Cadiz was the Swedish corvette Najades.
At Vigo were several vessels from the bar of
Oporto, in consequence of the prevailing strotg
westerly winds.
On the 9th, ten miles north of the Burling,
spoke the English ship showing third distinguish-
ing pendant No. 2,486, steering north by west.

EQUALISATION OF POOR-RATES IN THE
ALETROPO LIS.

The bill of Mr. A. S. Ayrton, P for the
Tower Hamlets, " T., Provide a Remedy— for th:
lnt quality in the Rates for the Relief of the Poor
iu the Metropolis," was yesterday issued in a
!minted form. The preamble assumes the inequa-
lity in question, and declares the expediency of
providing a remedy for the evil. At the first quar-
ter sessions after the passing of the bill,. and at
ev
several counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent,
eeraycifi usten4rre qt;tui rs
et eqruseens st i tto tio be
l eyelai,rldlBin a,,Otfcorobe
the
r
in
and the City of London, the assembled justices of
the peace will appoint from the resident metro-
politan justices a certain nurnly2r to form a body
c llle I "the Metropolitan Rating Sessions," four fur
Middlesex, three for Surrey, two for Kent, and two
for the City of London. The Court is empowered
to require returns, and to prcceed as a committee
ssh
teoor standardothsree rsseeesri
os
nofsfourti assessingdeepr ao op poor
the
Ifcnoorauklplert
yea preparing
ual raaentbld:r
of 201. The sessions may cause new valuations
be "nide, and after Lady Day in every year they
will prepare a basis and estimate the net annual
value and the expenditure of parishes, and the
excess or deficiency paid by each. The basis
aimillittsort
or standard of estimates or amount of excess
or deficiency will, when allowtd and con-
firmed by the sessions, after mature considera-
tion and the hearing of objections, &c., be valid,
legal, and effectual to all intents and purposes,
and upon this basis or standar I the assessments to
tk3 per Jr-rates wall thenceforth be made and continue
to be made under the act. The guardians will be
required to pay the deficiency of their expenditure
by a precept from the sessions, and if the guardians
disobey the p ecept warrants will be issued to the
overseers of the pa ishes to pay the amount. Should
the overseers prove equally disobedient, the sessions
may levy the amount by distress and sale on the
goods of the offender, and, in default, commit the
overseer to the common gaol or house of correction.
All orders of tlie sessions will be final, and subject
to no appeal whatever. The bill awaits its second
reading.