The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The deplorable condition to which Belgium
is reduced by the " protecting" policy of the
" London Conference" is but the natural con-
sequence of the Machiavellian spirit which has
presided over its Councils. Here have the five
Plenipotentiaries of the " Great Powers," for
two years past, with the solemn and imposing
air of business, been hatching a " Belgic settle-
ment ;" and their servile organs of the Press
have been " cackling" periodically as if the task
of incubation was brought to a glorious conclu-
sion ; but lot! the most patient and credulous
of people begin at last to suspect that they have
all this time been sitting on an addle egg, and
that their labours will terminate in nothing !
We are of a somewhat different opinion. Their
labours have produced mischief, and are likely
to produce more. The fact is, as we have often
stated, the Powers of Russia, Austria, and
Prussia, brought our Government and that of
France into their project of intervention, with
the intention of circumventing both, and, if pos-
sible, ruining Belgium. Why a wary old diplo-
matic fox like Talleyrand, of a thousand and one
intrigues, should become the dupe of the subtle
barbarity of the Cabinet of S-. Petersburg, if his
intentions were fair, it is impossible to imagine.
It may be that while representing the in-
terests of France, from some former recollec-
tion or unknown cause he sympathised rather
with Holland than with Belgium ; but certain
it is, he has assisted in bringing the affairs of
the latter country into a more melancholy state
of confusion than that in which he found them.
Whether this is for the advantage of Russia or
of France we leave others to determine. As to
Lord Palmerston, as he has never shown any
political capacity whatever, and as his education
in the school of Castlereagh, and his long ser-
vice in the Tory camp, cannot be supposed to
have had a very liberalizing effect upon
his understanding, we are not surprised at his
being the ready tool of the diplomatic work-
men who are employed to " settle" Belgium,
and Europe in general, according to the most
approved Cabinet plans of the Holy Alliance.
The great object of the Ministers of the despo-
tic States, in entering on the Belgic question,
was two-fold—to divert the attention of England
and France from their formidable warlike prepa-
rations on the Continent, and then occupying
the most favourable positions for dictating.
at the point of the bayonet, to other
nations, if they could not carry their am-
bitious objects ultimately without war, was
one part of the plan ;—the other was
under the pretence of amicably arranging the
differences between Belgium and Holland, to
assist the Dutch King to obtain all possible ad
vantages by intrigue, and so to harass and
distress the Belgic people as to make them re-
pent of their revolution, or at least to excite so
much discontent in the country as might render
it not difficult, in course of time, to bring about
a counter-revolution, and to replace Belgium
once more under the sceptre of her late paterna'
Sovereign, who is so closely related in senti•
ment and affinity to the merciful conqueror of
Poland. This our Government did not foresee,
but they ought to have foreseen it. The Whigs,
when out of office, seemed to know pretty well
the character of the Holy Alliance, and when
in office they ought to have avoided " bad com-
pany." One of our Brussels Correspondents,
in our publication of yesterday, stated " the
nation is becoming daily more alive to the im-
portant question of the liberty of the Scheldt.
and petitions are pouring in from all parts of the
country, entreating his Majesty not to consent
to any terms that might impose the slightest tolls
on vessels coming to or going from Antwerp. The
different Chambers of Commerce have also ad-
dressed the King on the subject ; and the
merchants of Brussels have plainly told hiir
that it was their firm conviction that any al-
teration in the navigation of the Scheldt would
seriously injure the commerce and industry of the
country." The fact is it would place the key,
of the commerce of Belgium in the hands of
the King of Holland, and soon might the "in-
dependent" kingdom of Leopold " shut up
shop" as a commercial nation. Our corres-
pondent adds, " These demonstrations of the
people place Leopold in an awkward position.
It must be truly embarrassing for him to listen
to addresses in which his subjects are suppli-
cating him not to destroy their commerce by
consenting to the demands of the Conference,
when, at the same time, he is conscious he has
it no longer in his power to boldly stand for•
ward to defend their rights. Leopold has sacri-
ficed much to preserve the peace of Europe. He
has sacrificed much for Louis Philippe ; but he
may go too far, and sacrifice hiinself." We
confess we are ignorant of what sacrifices Leo-
pold has made for Belgium. If he chooses to
make sacrifices to serve his father-in-law, that is
quite another thing, for Louis Philippe is no
more the friend of the Belgic liberals than he is
of the liberals of France. Leopold owes a
Crown, and a second Royal wife, with splendid
fortune, to Belgium ; but Belgium, as yet, owes
him nothing. If she is to be ruined because,
after all his boastful pretensions about an appeal
to arms against the insolent claims of the Dutch
King. he dare not defend her like a man, we
should like to know why he was placed upon the
throne at all. She could certainly have been
ruined without Iris assistance ; and, if he was
only graced with a diadem to preside over the
sacrifice, he was raised to the station which he
pecupiee more for ornament than use. It was
clso the Princes of the House of Orange de-
fended Holland against the vast power and am-
bition of Philippe 11. or Louis XlV.—Morn-
ing Herald.

The unexpected decease of Sir Albert Pell,
causes a vacancy in Lord Brougham's new
Bankruptcy Court, which there is great reason
to suppose the Chancellor will not, for the pre-
sent, at least, fill up. As far as its labours have
as yet been visible, there seems to be a pretty
general impression that, to use a homely simile,
it consists of " more cats than can catch mice ;"
and that, even had its labours been double what
they have been, or (according to present ap-
pearances) are likely to be, three Judges are
quite as able as four to perform all the duties
which can be required of them. This must ap-
pear the more obvious, when it is considered
that their duties literally consist of a small part
of what the Lord Chancellor and Vice-Chan-
cellor hitherto performed ; in addition to which
it has now been unequivocally ascertained that,
from the superior working of the first stages of
bankruptcy under the new system, references to
the new Judges bear no proportion in point of
number to those with which the old ones were en-
cumbered. Lord Brougham at any rate is not a
man likely to persist in error, merely from a
fear of the imputation of inconsistency, and if
he sees reason to think that in this part of his
new system fewer Judges would suffice, neither
patronage nor [mere apparent consistency will

induce him to saddle the country with an ex-
pense which can with propriety be avoided.-
- Morning Herald.
Will the Lord Chancellor fill up the vacancy
in the Court of Review occasioned by a late
melancholy event, namely, the death of Sir
Albert Pell ? " No," say the Reformers and
the Whigs, " that we are quite sure he will not;
he has had sufficient testimony of the inconve-
nience arising from having four Judges in such
a Court, and he will now suffer it to remain with
three only." To us, who have had quite as
ample testimony of our inestimable Lord Chan-
cellor's peculiar and patriotic scorn of patronage
and power as he has had of the inefficiency of his
Court of four Judges, the matter appears in a
different point of view. We think that the
' Lord Chancellor is quite sufficiently alive to the
charms of an exalted situation, with a salary
of 2,0001. a year, and with very little to do for
that salary, not to confer it on some kind rela-
tive or friend, as well as any Eldon or Lyndhurst,
or any corrupt Tory or Conservative, of them
all. That able, excellent, highly talented, and
practically perfect Commissioner, Mr. Charles
Frederick Williams (who, once last year, is
reported to have declined the honour of being
one of the Judges, but who afterwards became
the Senior Commissioner of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy), should be selected by Lord Brougham
and Vaux as the able successor of the late Sir
Albert Pell. His talents well demand such a
promotion, and, by so doing, the Lord Chan-
cellor will not only put hi»z into a snug little
place for life, but also have the snug little place
which he now so exemplarily fills to give to
somebody else. We are no advocates for leaving
situations of this sort long empty ; and, if no
new Judge be soon appointed, the three re-
maining Judges must always be in the way, so
as to be able to meet on any emergency, when
orders for attachments for non-payment of costs,
or orders of any other sort, may be wanted. The
practical inconvenience which will result, not
only to the public, but to the learned individuals
themselves, will at once strike a mind so acute,
so intelligent, and observant, as that of our Lord
Chancellor. We hope, therefore, that he will
not suffer his better judgment and kinder
feelings to be led away by any nonsen-
sical Tory jargon of the uselessness of four
Judges in the Court of Review, or by the still
greater Whig and Radical outcry of eco-
nomy and placemen, and the abandonment of
party professions. It is wrong to say that
Parliament was not fully convinced of the ne-
cessity of having a Court of Review ; it is
wrong to say that it was not equally convinced
that that Court should consist of four Judges,
and that the expense of it should be 12,0001. a
year, or thereabouts; and if the Legislature
were so convinced, shall any man, let him
be Lord Chancellor or other, presume to
say otherwise, and therefore not to fill up a
Judgeship of the paramount necessity of having
which the Parliament has so clearly spoken ?
With all the splendid eloquence and ability of
Lord Brougham, we doubt if he could bring
himself out of a scrape of that sort. When he
sees Lord Grey dispensing the good things which
he has to bestow on every individual who, nearly
or remotely, is connected with him, shall the
Lord Chancellor be told that he is to hold his
hand forsooth, and not give away that to some
friend or relation which we are quite sure, if it
were in the gift of Lord Grey, would have been
given away long before this time ? Government
have purchased a spot between Chichester-rents,
Chancery-lane, and Lincoln's Inn, where the
Court of Review will hold its future sittings.—
Morning Post.
Now that the evidence upon the Bank Charter
question is fairly before the public, and the prac-
tical testimony of Mr. Horsley Painter, the Go-
vernor,
has been given verbatim in our columns,
we may, we hope, with some confidence call
upon our readers to say whether we have not
been borne out by facts in all our assertions re-
specting the management of the Bank of Eng-
land and its high import to the empire. Mr.
Palmer has shown, by his evidence, the sound
course that the Bank has pursued in making the
circulation approach as nearly as circumstances
will admit to a metallic one. The value of notes
,Ott and the deposits have been thus disposed of
—two-thbds in securities bearing interest, and
one-third in bullion ; and this principle has been
tried under very difficult circumstances. A
sounder proof of its efficacy can scarcely be given
than the period which ranges between Aug. 1830,
And Feb. 1832, and during the whole of which
the exchanges were unfavourable to this country.
At the former period the amount of bullion
was upwards of twelve millions ; at the latter
it was reduced to little more than five mil-
lions, the rate of interest gradually increasing
from two and a half to four per cent. as the
bullion gradually decreased from twelve to five
millions. There probably was never a sounder
period of commercial prosperity than in the
early put of the summer of 1830, when the
French Revolution came like a withering blast,
and destroyed confidence, enterprise, and indus-
try. To this great cause for an unfavourable
exchange was added that of a luge importation
of foreign corn, consequent upon a scanty harvest
and a financial discredit pervading Ireland, which
produced a run upon many of the Irish banks,
which in their turn drained the Bank of England
to a large amount ; and yet, with the operation
of all these unfavourable circumstances, the Bank
of England so admirably regulated its proceed-
ings that it came out of this critical financial
epoch without embarrassing its own resources,
or without public discredit or inconvenience.
The present Governor of the Bank has indeed
truly said in his evidence that it is impossible
for the Bank to guard against political discre-
dit, and, we would also add, against com-
mercial discredit (such for instance as occur-
red in 1825), so long as the operations of the
country banks interfere in their circulation with
,he pivot of circulation in the capital. Let us
not be misunderstood. We are not casting the
slightest blame upon the country bankers ; but
the very essence of their transactions leads them
to be operated upon by prices. High prices tend
to augmented circulation on their part, and this
circumstance must eventually derange the circu-
lation of the centre, and thereby render the 13ink
of England liable to be placed in the situation of
danger that occurred in 1825 ; and, whilst the
circulation of the pivot and extremities is dis-
similar, the Bank of England must, with all its
care and caution, be subject to this danger.—
Setting the extraordinary circumstances aside
of political discredit, and commercial discredit,
that occurred in 1825, we think that we may tri-
umphantly refer to the period between August,
1830, and February, 1832, as a fair test of the
soundness of the principle acted upon by the
Bank. In the month of March of the present
year the exchanges became favourable for this
country, and the consequence was, that bullion
flowed in, and the value of money declined ;
and these facts show the true working of the

system, even in a period of severe financial trial.
The Times asserts, that the Tory organs of
public opinion advocate a return to a small-note
circulation. We trust that we may without pre-
sumption consider ourselves as one, and not an
unimportant organ of Tory opinion, and we defy
that Journal to point out any remarks that we
have ever made that bear out the assertion that
we have either directly or indirectly advocated
that most mischievous change. Whether Mr.
Peel's Bill was the best that could have been
adopted in all its details to meet the exigency of
the case it would be useless now to inquire ; itisthat
Act we have to deal with, and we unhesitatingly
assert, that to depart from its principles at this
crisis would tend more than any other circum-
stance to revolutionize the country, bearing,
fully in our mind the many events that are ap-
proaching, and all having a similar tendency.
The effect of this measure would be to raise the
prices of commodities beyond the comparative
advance in wages. This result would occasion
greater distress, and consequently more discon-
tent, than even that now experienced ; and if
there be any Tories who are rash enough to
wish for the experiment of a small-note circu-
lation to be tried, we call upon them in all sin-
cerity to consider the course they are adopting,
and to examine thoroughly the whole bearing,
of their proposition, and the more they exa-
mine it the more we are convinced will
they see reason for changing their views.
We shall have other opportunities of return-
ing to this subject, but we should consider
ourselves as not acting fairly by the
country if thus early in the controversy, if
controversy unfortunately it is to be, we did not
declare, in the most unqualified terms, our dread
of and opposition to, by every possible means, a
return to a small-note circulation. We know
the position of the country too well not to be
aware of the commercial panic, and probably po-
litical convulsion, that must soon follow upon
the adoption of this measure ; and for what pur-
pose is it wanted ? We have not time or space
to-day to give some interesting particulars re-
specting commercial industry, which we will
,
enueavour to do to-morrow ; but we will state
one fact to prove the uselessness, putting the
mischief out of the question, of a return to a
small-note circulation, that money is cheaper
now with a circulation of only 17,000,000 of
notes than it was in 1830 with a circulation of
21,000,000. Laying aside all other considera-
tions, does this prove a real demand for the
measure ? If, like the dram-drinker, the fever
of excitement be desired for the moment, then
revel in a small-note circulation, which will
leave the body politic, like the natural body in a
short time after an excess of ardent spirits, in
all the wretchedness of nervous langour ; but, if
permanent benefit be the object, we must not
rush upon temporary expedients. We hope
that we have said enough to set ourselves right
with the country, if any portion of it erroneously
believed that we advocated a small-note circula-
tion, and we call upon all true friends of the
national prosperity seriously to reflect before they
urge so rash and mischievous an experiment.—
Morning Post.
Every newspaper and private letter from Ire-
land is in one respect afac simile of every pre-
vious communication for the last five and thirty
years, being but a melancholy record of the pro-
gress of faction in that much-harassed country.
A Catholic rent was raised during one period to
promote the great and salutary object of an abo-
lition of the penal laws. The code was repealed,
but the rent was too good a thing to be repealed
with it,—that tax went on, therefore, under an-
other name, which name it has since changed
again from the " O'Connell rent" to the
" O'Connell annuity !" What is the conse-
quence ? An opposition rent-shop has been
more recently opened, and the Orange party
have begun to play off this effective branch of
the machinery of agitation against its author.
The Irish Conservatives have got up their fund
for general purposes, of course, in the first in-
stance ; but as these shall fail or prosper, the
instrument will, no doubt, be found applicable
to more personal uses,—the conservative rent
presenting a faithful imitation of its respectable
prototype, in each successive phase of " contri-
bution," " rent," and " annuity." It is
awfully disgusting, this vile falling-off of
great and noble struggles for liberty, and
substitution of individual jobbings in their
room. The question with the Catholic dema-
gogues was, formerly, how to obtain their rights ;
the question, we fear, is now nothing less than
how to abuse their victory. If the yell raised
within these two years for the repeal of the
Uniot succeeds in so far as to prevail with a
large portion of Irish electors to insist on a
pledge to that effect from candidates at the
ensuing election, we do not see what will have
been gained by the advocates of emancipation
and of Church reform beyond a lesson for their
guidance in after times. The cry for " Repeal
of the Union" is a direct war-cry, as well against
the Protestant body of Ireland, as against the
whole British nation. Does Mr. O'Connell
fancy that he can blind the world to the real
meaning of this treacherous attempt, which sig-
nifies, with regard to things spiritual, nothing
less than a Popish theocracy,—with regard to
things temporal, the dismemberment of the em-
pire ; beginning with separate Parliaments, lead-
ing, by a close and intractable necessity, through
blood and havoc to a dethronement of the Mo-
narch, if the party of the movement be success-
ful,—to a resubjugation and severe coercion of
Popish Ireland, should their projects fail, as they
unquestionably would do ? Nevertheless, put-
ting aside all holiest and moral arguments on
this subject, and assuming a certain miscal-
culation of the relative strength of parties
by the agitators, there is nothing unnatural,
there is nothing ludicrous in their desire to
have the Irish government to themselves. They
may even—the more shallow-brained and impe-
tuous amongst them—have actually persuaded
themselves that they wish for nothina more than
a legislature chosen for objects exclusively Irish,
and that no separation of crowns, replacing of
churches, confiscation of properties, or interna-
tional conflicts, are to be hoped or dreaded as
the results of this mighty enterprise. We be-
lieve that there may be a few such Catholic
advocates of a repeal of the Union, not par-
ticularly wise, indeed, but practising the aver-
age amount of self-deception to be looKed for
among political partisans. Will it be credited,
however, that there are people of a different
and antagonist tribe, who go about echoing the
Anti-Union warwhoop ? Protestants ! Ascend-
ancy men ! Conservatives ! Lovers of British
connexion—haters of Catholic privilege, who
would re-enact every clause and paragraph of
the penal code to-morrow,—who extolled the
Constitution so long as it affixed the badge of
servitude and suffering to the poor Papist's
brow, and who have ever deprecated, as the most
grievous of all injuries to themselves, his eleva.
tion to the rank of a fellow-subject, Will it, we

say, be credited that these Protestants—not very
numerous, to be sure, nor any ways distinguished '
but by reckless violence of purpose—yet are so
utterly wild and frantic as to join in the clamour
for " repeal of the Union,"—of that union with
England, constituting their single safeguard
against the fury of a population, which, with
hands unfettered to-morrow, would outnumber
them as 5 to 1! Of all the lunacies that ever
seized the minds of sane spectators with asto-
nishment is that of a section of the Orange
clubs in Ireland confederating with the O'Con-
nells, for the dissolution of Protestant power.
But they are demoniacs not to be reasoned with,
--they must be saved in spite of their despera-
tion. The strong hand of the Government
will uphold the peace of society against these
unholy allies, and if from the dregs of two selfish
and perverse factions, and under an unsound
and vicious influence, a band of delegates are
to be sent forth, to exercise the functions of re
presentatives for the people of Ireland, let them
well understand that in the collision which they
seem to threaten they will encounter a moral
force (we say nothing at present of any other)
vast enough, disciplined enough, of sufficient
patriotism, resolution, and high principle, to
confound with little effort the scheme of which
they are the organs. Irish faction is an inviting
field, and we may cross it again as leisure and
opportunity serve us.— Times.
After what we have proved respecting the per-
nicious action of the Bank of England on the
currency of the country, and after the remarkable
disclosures which we have quoted from the evi-
dence of the Bank Committee, we may confi-
dently conclude that the renewal of the Bank
Charter with its present exclusive privileges, is
impossible, and that this blundering corporation
on its present footing must, at the meeting of
the next Parliament, be declared incapable of
managing the money affairs of this great nation.
The Parliamentary inquiry, though not carried
to a conclusion, has been carried far enough to
insure such a result. The Bank establishment,
as the ruler of our circulation, stands self-
condemned, and condemned by all the world.
It is condemned by its own witnesses,—it
is condemned by its own official accounts—
it is condemned by its natural friends, the
London bankers,—it is condemned by its
clients, the country bankers,—it is con-
demned by such London merchants as gave
evidence partially in its favour, and Mr. East-
hope tells us, by hundreds who disliked the
formality of deposing against it,—it is con-
demned by the history of the last 35 years,
during which it has done more mischief than
any other national scourge of which we have
heard, real or fabulous,—it is condemned by the
amount of the debt in which it has involved the
nation, and of which it must be reminded every
quarter-day that it begins to pay the dividends,
—it is condemned by the ruins which the panics
and commercial convulsions of' the last thirty
years have heaped around it,—and it is con-
demned by the uniform exhibition of empy-
ricism, ignorance, or folly, which has distin-
guished its conduct from the year 1797 to 1832.
It is proved, by the evidence of its own directors,
that it is alternately the slave of the Govern-
ment and of the interests of its proprietors—that
one day it obeys the commands of the First
Lord of the Treasury, and the next the attrac-
tion of high dividends,—that it alternately dis•
tresses trade by contracting its issues to meet
some supposed emergency, and then after it has
collected an inordinate amount of treasure,
throws open its cellars and its printing-press to
encourage speculation—in short, that it one year
accumulates a great part of the disposable gold
of the world to the ruin of commerce, and the
next takes measures to have it exported, to the
danger of leaving us in " a state of barter." It
would be superfluous to recapitulate the chief
admissions of the evidence, or to restate
the chief portions of the official docu-
ments which establish those facts. To en-
able the Bank, therefore, should it again be
intrusted with the management of the currency
in any circumstances, to discharge its duty to
the public, it must be instructed to begin on
entirely new maxims, and be relieved from all
motives to the commission of its former errors.
It must cease to be dependent on the Govern-
ment for direction in the management of its
issues—it must cease to be charged with the
purchase of Exchequer bills at unseasonable
periods—it must cease to buy " dead weight
annuities," in rendering its funds unavailable for
more pressing emergencies—it must not look
either to a great dividend, to an increase of its
capital, or to an immense surplus accumulation
—by transactions which are incompatible with
the safe conduct of its financial affairs, or with
invariable value of the circulation. In short, the
Bank must, in this case, abandon its trade of
private adventure, as well as resist Government
dictation, and must consider itself as an ap-
pendage of the Mint on Tower-hill, or rather,
must bring Tower-hill to Threadneedle-street.
But if for our own safety—if for maintaining the
invariable standard ofvalue—we must thus cut the
Bank off from all sinister influences, either of a pri-
vate or Government nature, the question comes to
be, is it then the best instrument for this purely
public, uniform, and limited, though important,
duty of superintending the circulation ? As it
is quite evident that the Bank direction would
thus become a public board for the management
of the currency,—that their capital would be
considered as the capital of the Government,—
that their security would be that of the Govern-
inent,—that publicity of accounts would be ri-
gidly enforced,—that they would be required to
make reports to Parliament, when required, of
the state of their funds ; and in short, that there
would be less mystery about the Bank than about
the Exchequer,—is a commercial corporation,
thus detached from commercial affairs, the best
superintendent of the monetary system of the
nation ? Even if we could devise no better
system than that of the Bank Directors, thus
modified, could we not enjoy its benefits at a
cheaper rate than we pay at present for its ser-
vices ? Without pretending to give any de-
finite
any side i'n he teplanofottirown on this subject, or to
take
corporationquestion
currency, limited as we have described, and a
of
for preference,managingbe-
tween theboard of national cornmissioners,we may state what
we think some strong arguments in favour of
the latter. 1. In the first place, the security of
the public for the payment of their notes would
be at least as great as it is at present. People not
accustomed to this topic of discussion are not
perhaps generally aware, that all the Bank
capital is lent to the Government, and that
every Bank of England note in circulation (at
least with a very small exception) has been issued
on Government credit or securities. It is ulti-
mately, therefore, the Government or the nation
that is liable for the payment of all the notes of
the Bank of England. When they put out their
paper on the purchase of Exchequer-bills,—
though they get interest for those Exchequer-

bills,—it is the Exchequer-bill which is the
security to the country or to the holders of the
notes, and not the " promise" of the Bank " to
pay" the issues by which they were purchased.
If the Government itself were to issue the small
notes instead of the Exchequer-bills, and pay
them in gold on demand, along with the interest,
as its credit allows the Bank to do, the security of
the holder would not be in the least altered. In
the same way, when the Bank pays the dividends
on the national debt, it pays them with Bank
notes which have only the security of Government
(to whom the Bank has lent all its capital) for
ultimate payment. That this may be made ma-
nifest to the least attentive observer of such
matters, we need only quote a part of one of
the tables submitted to the Bank Committee by
the Bank Directors :

" An estimated account of profit derived by the Bank from Go-
vernment business.
" Circulation £20,000,000

" Government deposits
£24,000,000
" Of which two-thirds are estimated to be invested in securities,
and one-third in bullion.

Securities, .£16,000,000 ; viz.—
" £9,000,000 Exchequer bills, at 21A per cent. 20.2,500
" 800,000 Stock, at 3 per cent 24,000
"£1,000,000 advances for circulation on
Discount, at 3 per cent 30,000
" £500,000 Country Discount, at 3X, per
cent 17,500
£4,700,000 at iA per cent 193,875
-- 467,875"

"£16,000,000
It is here seen that the whole currency of
Bank-notes, with the exception of some com-
mercial discounts, has actually been issued on
Exchequer-bills and other Government securi-
ties. This would be still more manifest, if pos-
sible, were we to quote the debtor and creditor
account of Bank affairs on the 29th of February
last, in which we find the following statement,
omitting private discounts and deposits :
" Bank notes out-standing .C18,051,710
" Public deposits of various kinds 3,198,730
" Bank capital, or debt due to the proprietors by
Government 14,553,000"
To answer this debit side, they exhibit
advances to Government—

" On securities X 4,134,940

" Advances on dead.weight annuities
" By other credits to Government 2,700,000

And permanent debt due from Government 14:68000"
It is indeed quite evident that the only funds
which the Bank now possesses, or could divide,
if the establishment were broken up to-morrow,
are the debt due from Government, and a re-
served or surplus fund of 2,639,760/. It may
be safely assumed, therefore, that as a source of
currency, the security of Government is neither
worse nor better than that of the Bank ; and
that the national creditor, who has intrusted
Government with the 800,000,0001. of capital,
may safely trust Government its notes in paying
the interest. 2. If the security of the notes
would be as great or in fact the same, might
not the public have as good and satisfactory a
guarantee against their depreciation or fluctuation
in value as at present ? Governments have always
hitherto been bad bankers or managers of the
circulation, because they were unacquainted with
the principles of currency, or because their
alleged necessities generally exceeded their
known honesty. Hence, as they had formerly
no bank notes to depreciate, by excessive issues,
they clipped their coin or deteriorated their
standard. Subsequently the issues of notes by
the North Americans during their revolutionary
war, when their paper dollars became depreci-
ated 80 or 90 per cent.—the assignats of France
and the paper rubles of Russia, which are now
only a fourth of the silver ruble, are examples
Of folly or faithlessness which must occur to
every body. But in such countries, or at such
times, the Bank of England—subjected as it
was to the Government dictation—would have
been equally insecure. The question, however,
does not lie here, and the experiment of a cur-
rency managed for public purposes by public
Commissioners, and not subject to the necessi-
ties of Government, has never yet been tried. The
Board of Commissioners or Trustees might be ap-
pointed by Parliament, and rendered amenable to
Parliament alone,havingnothing of that connection
with the Administration of the day which has
hitherto subjected the Bank to such inconve-
nience. Their own interests would be perfectly
independent of any of their operations. Coming
in place of the Bank direction, stripped as we
have said it must be (if it continues the source
of our paper currency) of all connection with the
Government, and relieved from all the spells of
dividends and bonuses, it would be required to
attend alone to the state of the exchanges, and
to render the currency as free from fluctuation as
possible. If the Bank Directors, who have
other duties to attend to, are supposed capable
of executing such a duty, why may not a board
of more intelligent Parliamentary Commis-
sioners ? 3. If such a national Bank could
give as great security to the holders of its notes
as the Bank of England,—if the scheme appears
abundantly practicable under intelligent Com-
missioners,--and if it could be guarded against
abuse and malversation by publicity of ac-
counts and vigilant superintendance, it cer-
tainly, in the third place, would derive a
strong recommendation from its economy,
or rather its gain to the public. It might
be connected with offices for the payment of the
dividends on the national debt, and the manage-
ment of the deposits of the revenue. In this
way, with equal or greater security, more than
500,000/. a year might be saved to the nation.
'[lie Bank has stated its net profits, derived from
the transaction of Government business, at only
178,875/. ; but that must be a miserable misre-
presentation, or at least a very erroneous estimate;
else how could they have lately divided 10 per
cent. on their stock of 14,553,000/. ; added a
tburth to their capital in 1816 ; and again
collected a reserve or surplus fund of 2,637,7601.
to be divided among the proprietors at some
future period ? Begging again to say that we
merely throw out this hint to show that there is
an alternative between having the present Bank
of issue and a number of banks in the metropolis,
and not with any design of recommending it, we
take leave of the subject to-day, but shall recur
to it.— Times.

I was
os u
lbde erne c
eai
vded r
fersos
me d h
it
so
LLoor
dti
l
Brougham,ship :
thatm most
snt the e
isi
thiavpe
wouldApaaimnphholepte
which, since the time of Fielding, shape
consideration INIVv hhileChh we
importance so amply merits.
standing topic of ridicule with some, and of ihneg subject
b iese onen
a
cen-
sure with others, but without undergoing any
of that improvement which time, coupled'
with
the force of public opinion, so rarely fails to in-
troduce into all human institutions, however,
vicious or radically bad. It is the magistracy of
England to whom we allude—" the great
unpaid," of whose voluntary services the public
has heard so much, and from whose ignorance
of the law, local partialities and enmities, and
total irresponsibility, it has suffered so much evil.
These are serious charges to be brought against
any body of men, more especially against those in
whose hands are deposited the power of fine,
‘yhcim-
prisonment,iiijusticaensdof
t lie
Peace
are;
appointed,b of
they are
of one
1
no less true than they are serious, and grow as
he mode in
naturallybranehes
ootut
atree ferom another
its as the stem and
root,

fords no guarantee for their possession of those
qualifications which ought to distinguish the
Judges of the land, while their utter irrespo►t'
sibility affords temptations to tyranny, which it
is more than to be feared are seldom resisted.
" Justices," says the pamphlet referred to, " taken frool
the community at hazard are supposed to possess know'
ledge with the clod of earth which they inherit. A moo'
just arrived at the age of majority, having left the Univet,
sity, where a common degree, requiring some knowledge—
some examination—gives him a fit, or the cholera—pre-
sents insurmountable obstacles to a mind absorbed in the
sole consideration of dogs and horses—comes to reside os
the family mansion—applies to the Lord Lieutenant of
the county to be put in the commission of the peace, and
takes out his dedimus to punish and imprison his fellow-
men, as a companion to his certificate to kill gatne--at'
tends the next Quarter Sessions, and makes the declara-
tion, that he will not upset the pure and reformed
established religion, of which he perhaps knows as little—'
takes his seat on the bench with the other, perhaps equally
wise, justices.

" This, my Lord, is the very common English educa-
tion for a Justice of the Peace. He now begins to lay
down the law with all the violence and prejudices of an
uninrormed mind—establishes weekly meetings at a neigh-
bouring ale-house with the parson of the parish, who either
has been, or is, made a justice to assist him ; they appoint
a clerk, as ignorant perb ips as themselves, and whose sole
object is to get money; and the clerk being of the willowr
kind, ingratiates himself into their good opinion, and hay'
ing summonses and warrants ready signed, issues them
Whenever required ; and, having been so credibly informed,
I may positively state they have been sold, at so much the
dozen, ready signed—a blank being left only for the name
and cause of complaint. The parties come before their
worships ; the case presents difficulties ; they determines
at all events, that the clerk must be paid by one or both
parties, and all are dismissed. The dlerk, who is become
a greater man than the justice himself, makes out a tong
bill of fees—totally disregarding all allowed tables of fees ;
no common suitor of a petty sessions, daring to dispute
the authority of the clerk to charge what he pleases—'
pays the bill, and thinks himself well off."
From such a body of men—so selected and so
appointed—no good could well be expected, but
this is not the only vice of the system, for care
has ever been taken to render that worse which
is so radically bad.
" Fur a century," we quote from the same pamphlet,
"subsequent to the first establishment of justices, pro/i'
sion was made that a large proportion of the body should
consist of men of the law, and that no judicial act should
be performed without the countenance and guidance of
one of those persons ; I am at a loss to know what alters:
tion has taken place in the relative position of the law 50
the justices, which renders this provision at present super'
fluous ; that great injury has arisen from the non-absere'
ance of it, there can be little doubt. The commissioo
now little accords with the views of the founders, and with
the dictates of common sense.
" The Lord Chancellor himself appoints the judges °f
the superior courts ; yet, though he issues the commission
of the peace, the Lord Lieutenant of the county names the
persons to be appointed, without the interference of the
Crown's responsible advisers.

" The Lord Lieutenant of the county, as custos roto-
-1 hiso u,
county,n, abs lau
tt ely
his
saoplpeowi nitlst aalnl
dt hpei
aussut irceeLobfe thefla
yp,e ai
nc e,a °lrt
bnyeeolwi:kve;,b
wucommission,tasit dwoansee nldai
nei
laid
vtdoi
oluewr
West
rt oeassl
te
aaßvgei
ed
noi
neu
grt a
lonfamt rulehe seb,
yclovt,hhi
county
which
(34
Lord Chancellor, Earl Eldon, that, however unfit a Als'
gistrate might be for his office, either from private niiscon'
duct, or party feeling, he would never strike out his name
until he had been convicted of some offence by the verdict
of a court of record—a most herculean task.
" In the exercise of the patronage of the Lord Lieute'
nant, no responsibility whatever substantially exists; jur
tices are therefore appointed by irresponsible advisers;
irremovable without a conviction for some tangiblet.
offence; and I will just state what the authority is
men so chosen :—They can transport—they can take 00/
licences from publicans, which often constitute the greater
part of the value of their premises—they can send a distre°
or search-warrant into a private man's dwelling—the/
can consign their fellow men to the stocks—flog, and joy
prison for one or more years."
Yet the men to whom all these extraordinary
powers are entrusted, are, to all intents and pur
poses, devoid of the slightest responsibility °
any one for the use which they make of thew'.
It is true that if a Magistrate commits a fault
descends to the taking of a bribe, or to a ma"'
fest perversion of the law, the law holds out MO
It terms a remedy—that is to say, it allows the
injured party to bring his action against the 1V13"
gistrate ; but it takes care that under none bot
the most extraordinary circumstances shall that
Magistrate be convicted by it, of any infraction
of its principles, as is justly observed in the pa'?''
phlet referred to, and to which we shall again
advert to-morrow.
" The difficulty of proving corruption is rendered alna°4
insuperable, because the magistrate has nothing to dot °I
order to defend himself from the consequences, for instance'
of withholding a licence from an innkeeper, except to
adopt the short course of saying nothing at the tirne--kce,ll;
ing his own counsel—abstaining from any statement of Pi9'
reasons, and no power on earth can touch him ;
you can either show that he himself has stated his reas°°.
—motives--or that there are circumstances so str"..,tl‘
against him as amount to conviction—an applicant is Vti;
vented from instituting any inquiry into the subject. lb
absolute is the authority with respect to the licensing; not
is this power of the magistrate that alone in which gees,
abuses exist—they prevail wherever their great authorl
is exercised, in instances too numerous to mention : an
yet, for all their conduct in these matters, they are neej
amenable to any superior power, provided, as it is stator
before, they only keep their own counsel, and abstain fc°,
stating the reasons by which they have been actuste,l,
should their motives have been evil."—Morning Adeer
user.

A million of Bank-notes, placed one abol
another, would form a pile of 416 feet in height, white
is much higher than St. Paul's, and more than doublet uj
height of the Monument. Supposing them to be spree
out, they would extend over 250,000 square feet, a be
equal to the area of Grosvenor-square, London.
M. UDE.—This celebrated providore Vl5
once cook to the Earl of SEFTON, and quitted his Lord
ship ship merely because one of the guests put pepper into ,
soup. "lor," said the enraged artist, " c'est unaifee"ni
to suppose my soup can want pepper."
A Reverend Divine announces by advertise',
went his intention of publishieg " A Thundering Leiter,
to the Bishop of SALISBURY, which be declares will oce!,,,
sion ct suit of "ecclesiasticul earthquake" in the diner
of Sarum.