The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

We published yesterday a curious document,
as connected with the Belgic question, or rather
with the disputed points of the treaty of separa-
tion between Belgium and Holland, lately rati-
fied, on which we had not room at the time to
comment, and the full importance of which
might, in consequence, escape the notice of
some of our readers. We allude to the protocol
of the central commission on the navigation of
the Rhine, still sitting at Mentz, dated so re-
cently as the 30th of July last. This Commis-
sion consists, as we formerly ,tated, of Plenipo-
tentiaries from all the eight States directly interested
in the navigation of the Rhine, or in the na-
vigable rivers which join its waters. Ap-
pointed to apply and carry into effect the par-
ticular stipulations of the treaty of Vienna,
which established the general principle of free
river-navigation in all cases where the same
rivers divide or traverse different states, this
commission has now sat for several years, and
its labours are not yet terminated. We have
heard much of protocols on the Greek ques-
tion—of protocols on the Belgic question—and
we have seen surprise often expressed that the
Conference of London should have reached its
grand climacteric of 58 or 59 of these diploma-
tic stages; but what will our readers say to
the Commiasion of Mentz, whose duration hae
been ao extended, or whose activity has been so
great, as to be able to boast of its 512th pro-
tocol ? It is remarkable, that wherever our
North), and excellent ally the King of Holland
is a party to any negotiation, there should
always be a necessity for numerous protocols.
He is not the man to surrender an inch of land
or of water, tinder whatever tenure he may hold
it, without a protocol. It is now 17 years since
the Congress of Vienna decided that the vela-
gation of the Rhine and of its adjacent navigab!e
rivers should be opened to the trade of all the
States bordering on its banks ; and it is not much
more than a twelvemonth since his Dutch Ma-
jesty, who holds the key of these rivers, could
be brought to agree to the Mentz convention, of
which we lately gave an account. In the ori-
ginal draught of this convention the right of the
riverain States was admitted to the free navi-
gation of the Scheldt, and to that of the com-
municating waters between the Rhine and Ant-
werp. Whoever was henceforward to be ill posses-
sion of Antwerp, the right of these Powers to trade
with it could not be denied. By necessary conse,
quence, the mouth of the Scheidt must be left free,
because the trade of Antwerp without such a fie
access would 1)0t be worth even the parchment of
the Mentz convention. The King of Holhind,
seeing on the 31st of .January, 1831, from the
turn that his affairs were taking, that the port of
Antwerp might not henceforward belong to the
house of Orange, induced the other membere of
the commission to strike out the sth and 6tit
articles of their convention which related to the
Scheldt, and to agree to its other stipulations,
reserving their rights till after the settlement of
the Belgic question. This arrangement was ac-
cordingly adopted on the 31st of March, 1831,
and the high contracting parties for a time have
sacrificed the interests of their subjects to their
desire of peace and to their feeling of regard for
their Dutch ally. All of them are now getting
impatient for a definitive settlement, and several
of them are highly displeased with the late pre-
tensions of the Dutch Government, disclosed
in the proposed Treaty offered by Holland to
the Conference, or in the notes by which the
Dutch Plenipotentiaries have resisted the treaty
of the 24 articles. In the protocol of July 30,
1832, which we published yesterday, it will be
seen that the Plenipotentiaries of the rivet aia
States declare, " they never thought of re-
nouncing the use of an intermediate communi-
cation between the waters of the Rhine and
those of the Scheldt, indispensable fir the trade
(.2f the States bordering on the Rhine, and the
chicfobject of the treaty." They therefore express
their entire dissent from the doctrine laid down,
and the assertion tnade by the Dutch Plea
nipotentiaries, in their note of the 30th of
Ja-
nuary, of the present year, in which they say,
that '' there had been no understanding by the
commission of Mentz, on the navigation of the
intermediate waters between the Rhine and the
Scheldt, and that the Cabinet of Holland could
not see why conditions should be stipulated in
favour of Belgium, which the riverain states
never claimed on their own account." So far is
this from being true, that the articles which sti-
pulated for a free navigation between these two
rivers, had been actually inserted in the treaty,
and were only erased from it under a reserve
that they would be considered at a more conve-
nient season, when the separation of the Ne-
therland provinces had taken place. This pro-
test and declaration on the part of the Rhenish
States, including Prussia, France, Bavaria, 13a-
den, Hesse-Darmstadt, and other smaller prin-
cipalities, decide the whole question. These
States claim a right—already indeed regulated,
and only suspended from circumstances of con-
venience—to a free communication between the
Scheldt and the Rhine, by what are called the
Dutch waters ; of this right they will insist
upon the enjoyment. This communication con-
nects Antwerp with Western Germany. What
is granted to the Powers above-named cannot be
refused to Belgium, and on this head the King
of Belgium may rest satisfied that his interests
cannot be neglected or sacrificed.--Times.
In our extracts from the reported evidence of
the Bank Committee will be found a continua-
tion of the examination of the present Governor
of the Bank, Mr. 11. Palmer, and a table of
the amount of gold coin and bullion in the Bank
cellars on the 28th of every February, for every
year, from 1815 to 1832. The latter docu-
ment is remarkably curious. It will be seen by
it, that in February, 1815, though Buonaparte
had not yet returned from Elba—though, there-
fore, no new war was apprehended—and though,
by the terms of the act, the Bank was bound to
pay in specie at a short interval after the peace,
of
infioleßa
ua,,rl7,tom m,storeooor of coin
eot,hoaoto2l.,o and bullion
010,iioeooi
I,i.c,rte
to
meet
did
„! e
eotfistshuieleoisrt
treasure is remarkable through the years 1816
and 1817, down to October, 1818, when it
reached the amazing sum of nearly 12,000,000/.
sterling, or nearly a half of their paper circula-
tion. The period of' 1816, 1817, and the
beginning of 1818, while this great supply of
gold was collecting, to enable the Bank to re-
sume cash payments, was one (it will be recol-
lected) of peculiar difficulty and pressure. The
applicationf manufacturing
the v
is:iacerrp,ei
depressed
ss tseoeddo thechcreditec
irr o
the
eite
agains
o
distressed land-owners and farmers—tunt
gave occasion to numerous inquiries into the
arrested
o atfthe
that
industry—excited time,B.
activity, and
17— excited tne cries of
causes of our sufferings and embarrassments.
The expedition of the Blanketeers—the
insur-
rection of Brandreth—and the special commission
at Derby, were all connected with the proceed'

ings of the Bank parlour. In the end of 1817
and the beginning of 1818 this 12,000,0001. or
gold was given out to the public with a large
omparative supply of Bank-notes, and pros-
perity was restored. This gold, being issued at
an unfavourable state of the exchanges, soon
disappeared from the channels of trade ; so that
In February, 1819. the Bank treasure was re-
duced to 4,354,0001., or nearly 8,000,0001. in
the course of a year. The Act to restore cash
payments passed in 1819 ; so that it became ne-
cessary in 1820, 1821, itha 1822, to secure a
supply of gold to meet the new state of things.
The effect of this Act will be seen in the rise of;
the Bank treasure from 3,570,0002., as it
stood in September, 1819, to the amazing sum
Hof 14,142,0001., as it stood in December,
182.3,—about four years after the period of its
former depression. A great portion of this
amount, it will he perceived by the table, had
been converted into coin, instead of remaining,
like the Bank treasure at other times, in the shape ;
of bullion. Such a quantity of gold could not
have flowed into the Bank cellars unless it had
been drawn by the suction of a diminished paper
currency. Accordingly, we find that the paper
issues of the Bank in 1822 had been reduced
to the lowest level which they have attained
since the peace, and that the derangement of
credit, and the extent of national suffering, were
in proportion to this violence of transition from
one state of things to another. From this " high
and palmy state" of Bank treasure, which was
simultaneous with the general suffering of the
people in 1822 and 1823, we find the coffers
of the establishment gradually declining, and its
issues, as well as those of the country banks,
'.gradually extending till we reach the panic point
in December, 1825, when the Bank coin was
only 426,000/. and its bullion 601,0001., or in
zulll about 1,000.0004 sterling, to meet a de-
mand of nearly 27,000,000/. Since that period
the Bank treasure has borne a fair proportion to
the amount of the Bank issues, averaging about
one-third of a reserve, in the shape of coin or
bullion, to meet the demands of the public for
export abroad, or for internal security. Its
treasure was on the 28th of February last lower
than it had been since 1825, owing, as Mr. H.
Palmer states in his evidence, not to the unfa-
vourable state of the exchanges, but to the late
appearance of political insecurity, occasioned by
the resistance of the Tories to the Reform Bill.
The effect of this is calculated at about two
millions, which, most likely, has been hoarded
for a season by the timid and the cautious. Let
any one recollect accurately the political occur-
rences and economical condition of the country for
the last 17 or 18 years, or let him read its annals
in more authentic records than the tablets of his
own memory—with this account of the succes-
sive changes in the Bank treasure on the one
hand, and the amount of the Bank of England
notes and those of the country banks on the
other, spread out before him ; and if he is not
led to ascribe a great part of our real distress
and apparent prosperity to the influence of the
Bank Direction upon the currency, we shall
despair of his being able to trace any relation
between cause and effect on any political ques-
tion. And who would propose to re-unite this
broken circle of vicissitude, and to run giddily
round it again ? We have purchased the expe-
rience of the last 17 years at too high a price
to throw it lightly away. The nation must now
be universally convinced of a fact which it ought
long ago to have known,—that we have in-
trusted the management of our monetary system
in the hands of a body of irresponsible empirics,
—that we have allowed them to usurp the Royal
prerogative in clipping or enlarging the King's
coin—in debasing or restoring the national cur-
rency at their pleasure,—that we have put into
their possession the means of altering the value
of every man's property, and affecting the ex-
tent of every man's credit,—that we have al-
lowed them to raise or reduce the burden of our
taxes, and of all our fixed money engagements ;
and that alternate intervals of factitious pros-
perity and real distress, of speculation and of
panic, have been the consequence. Yet the
party to whom we have intrusted these enormous
powers desire not to be considered as public ser-
vants, or to- act under any kind of public con-
trol. When they are accused of negligence in
not watching the exchanges, and in thus permit-
ting the ruinous fluctuations to which we have
alluded, they answer, that provided they secure
themselves and their constituents, it is no con-
cern of theirs that the precious metals depart
from the country, or return to it, by artificial
means. With a mixed character of Finance
Ministers, of private speculators, and Govern-
ment bankers, they pursue, in turn, each part of
their varied trade or profession that suits them,
always under the direction of private interest,
and without any uniform feeling of public duty.
If.we are, therefore, to have a paper currency, let
its. management be placed in different hands.
BUt in no hands let us place the power which
existed under the Restriction Act—and under
no circumstances let us conceive the possibility
of repealing the bill of 1819. With this feel-
ing of the ruinous impolicy of again tampering
with our currency by new changes, it was grati-
fying to see that the Ministers of 1825 rather
chose to advise the Bank, when in alarm at the
drain of gold, and before the miraculous disco-
very of the box of small notes, to "shut up
shop," and to write on its doors "a promise of
more cash to-morrow," than to agree to
its request of a new restriction act. Such ought
to be the conduct of the present Adminis-
tration, or of any future Cabinet in the same
circumstances. We have now passed through
all the calamities of the transition from a ficti-
tious to a real standard of value. The trial has
been severe, but it is over; and the Minister
who could contemplate its renewal would deserve
to'be regarded as a greater enemy to his coun-
try than he who would introduce a wasting pes-
tilence, or provoke a civil war. It has been
proved to demonstration, that the 1/. note and
the sovereign can never circulate together ; and
therefore that the permission to circulate the
former is a decree of banishment against the
latter. Our currency speculators, then, who
bawl out for the issue of small notes, declare
against the retention of that metal in circulation
by which the value of all notes, whether great
or small, must ultimately be measured. They,
in fact, assault the fabric of our monetary system
at its base, and destroy all chance of its stability.
For the foolish rabble of talkers on this subject,
or for the needy swarm of adventurers who ex-
pect to get rich on the manufacture of rags into
money, we can, of course, neit her feel nor express
respect ; but even those who can give some reason
for a currency of small paper, and who may be
aeotetically right, forget, or omit, circumstances
sufficient to overthrow their hypothesis. 1 hey
tell us that paper is a cheaper currency than
gold, and that, by using the former instead of
the latter, we might save the interest of all the
metal with which we are enabled to dispense.
Tpose 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 of 1/. notes

in circulation, there would, no doubt, bea saving
of about half a million sterling on the interest
of the capital which would have been invested in
coin ; but is this mighty nation to be made lia-
ble to convulsions, and panics, and bankruptcies,
for the equivocal gain or saving of half a mil-
lion a year? Without allowing ourselves to
suppose fora moment that any persons of politi-
cal innuence, either official or parliamentary,
entertain the idea of virtually repealing the Bill
of 1819 by the renewed permission of a small
note circulation, and without entering further into
the subject at preeht with antagonists of another
class, we lay before the reader a strong ar-
Aliment against such a measure, derived from no
less an authority than the present Governor of
the Bank of England,--no enemy, certainly, to
an ettended paper currency.
" Will you explain more at large, in what way the state
of the small nose circulation operated so as to interfere
with the management of the Bank 2--..1t -rendered the
Bank liable to a -Very great sudden demand ; for instance,
in the year 1225, from October to the Ist of December,
the demand upon the Bank was nearly 2,500,0001. ster-
ling, for the support of the country circulation, when the
exchanges were nearly at pir, if not entirely so, and which
placed the Bank in a very peculiar state of difficulty. The
whole difficulty of that period, with regard to bullion,
arose from the magnitude of that demand._

" You conceive the maznitude of that demand was very
much increased by the small note circulation of the coun-
try ?—I consider the demand was almost entirely to up-
hold the small note circulation.

Will you explain why you are of that. opinion ?
Because the holders of small notes are the lower orders of
the people, whose fears are more extensively acted upon
in times of distiust, and there baying been no exchange
for the If. note but the sovereign, the demand upon the
Bank became inevitable.

" Were you not also pressed for geld very much by the
London bankers, who were called upon to send it to
hankers in the country for that object?—That was the
channel through which the supply was sent to the coun-
try?"— Tirnes.
We understand that the evidence taken before
the Committee upon the Bank Chatter question
will be this day regularly before the public, and
therefore we shall no further pursue the course
we have adopted of giving extracts from what
we believe will be found in that of the several
witnesses examined, whose names and opinions
upon certain points we have stated, and content
ourselves with a short answer to the remarks of
some of our Morning Contemporaries of yester-
day, although they are scarcely deserving of the
notice that we are about to bestow upon them,
short as it will be. We again call upon the
Chronicle to state the specific charges of mis-
management on the part of the Directors in
1825. Vague and general assertions can and
ought to have no influence. Our Contempo-
rary has, however, no other weapon, and there-
fore can only trust to his untangible male-
volence against the Bank sticking some-
where. We distinctly state that no part of the
evidence will bear out the assertion that the
Bank, since 1819, have been in the habit of
acting upon the public market, and thereby con-
tracting or extending the circulation. It has
been the action of the public upon the Bank,
and not the Bank upon the public, that has pro-
duced alternations. From the year 1819 down
to the present period is the time during which
:he conduct of the Directors should be looked
at, as we have before repeatedly stated. From
1797 to 1819, they had virtually no control
over the affairs of the Bank. We shall deal
very concisely with the rhodomontade of the
Times in its city article of yesterday, in allusion
to the operation of an additional issue of Bank-
notes, preparatory to the reduction of the divi-
dends. It has been put forth for the sole pur-
pose of raising the Funds. The assertion has
.10t the slightest foundation in fact; it is posi-
tively false. Whatever increase took place at that
•inie was the increase of bullion, and that alone.—
Morning Post.
We observe With astonishment, equal to the
indignation with which we are sure the bare men-
tion of the fact will inspire all Englishmen de-
serving the name, that the report which some time
Ago existed, and which appeared to be incredi-
ble, of the French Government having an inten-
tion of transporting a number of the Polish
exiles to Algiers, who had been received on
hoard French ships, at Prussian sea-ports, under
the pretence of conveying them to a hospitable
Asylum in France, has not only been revived, but
confirmed. We recollect when the Berlin Papers
poke of a contract having been entered into be-
tveen the Governments of France and Prussia
-dative to the Polish fugitives in that country,
in virtue of which they stated a number of them
were about to embark at Dantzic to he landed
at Bordeaux. What is the truth ? It appears
he gallant exiles were induced to believe that,
After all the persecutions which they had suffered
in Prussia, they were at length to find sympathy
and a resting-place upon the shores of France,
until the course of events might open better
:)rospects for their country and themselves;
but their secret destination was the burning
sands of Africa—the scenes of pestilence
ind Arab warfare their resting-place—the
captured fortress of the Barbary pirates their
isylum ! In the periodical work called Polonia,
or Monthly Reports on Polish Allizirs, the
second number of which has just appeared, we
Find the particulars of this nefarious transaction.
Under the head of " Foreign Intelligence," there
is the following melancholy account from Toulon,
dated August 2 :—" The vessel Lachs, whose
Arrival had long been expected at Aix, came into
the roadstead of that island on the Ist August,
having on board 400 under-officers and privates
of the Polish army. But scarcely had she an-
chored
when orders were sent by the French
authorities directing them to sail for Algiers.
The disappointed Poles presented an address to
the French Government, through Rear-Admiral
Jurieu. Legravene, who informed them that an
answer would be sent to them at Algiers."—
Thus was insult added to oppression, and perfidy
aggravated by an uofeeling taunt ! Another
communication from Rochefort says, " concern-
ing the Poles, who were not permitted to land
in our port, but were ordered to proceed to
Algiers, we have learned the following par-
ticulars :—The Gallant General d'Ornier, for-
merly Colonel of the 6th Regiment of Dra-
goons, and decorated with a deep sabre cut
on his cheek, took upon himself the responsi-
bility of disembarking the Poles on the island of
Aix. Two companies of the 57th regiment had
welcomed the exiles on shore with the affection
of comrades and brothers, and an hospitable en-
tertainment was prepared for them. A veteran
' French soldier of the 57th regiment recognised
in one of the Poles his ancient comrade, at
whose side he had fought in the battles of Somo-
sierra, Wagram, Mozaisk, Champ-Auber, and
Waterloo. On this occasion General d'Ornier
did not hesitate to express that if the Govern-
tnent were displeased with his 'conduct towards
the Poles, they might deprive him of his com-
giission, but he would never serve them as an exe-
cutioner. This noble disinterestedness gained
him the hearts of all the inhabitants of Roche-
fort. The Captain of the Staff, Nourion, be-
haved on so delicate an occasion with great

prudence and humanity, and he also gained
both the confidence of the Poles and the respect
of his companions in arms." A writer in a
Poictiers Journal, called the Pcho du Peuple,
represents a visit which he made to the
vessel containing the Poles, to see, as he de-
scribes it " the precious remains of so he-
roic a nation." He adds that he knew
already, "by idormation received from a
Captain of the Staff, that Government had or-
dered them all to Algiers, on board the frigate
Thisbe." The particulars which he communi-
cates are too long for recital here ; but we can•
not avoid giving a part of what this eye-witness
records. He says—" The greater part of the
Poles were from 14 to 25 years of age—the elite
and the hope of Poland, chiefly students of the
Universities, of the Polytechnic School, and
the Lyceums. Their fathers are either dead or
in Siberia ; the greater part of them possessed
estates which are confiscated ; they have lost
their all for the sacred cause of liberty. Among
them were, however, some old soldiers, who
fought under Napoleon. If you had seen them,
as I did, your heart would have been ready to
break. They were without shirts or shoes—
: many were adorned with wounds and scars—
true decorations at the side of the virtuti mili-
tari." The writer then states that M. Jurieu,
the Maritime Prefect, who, we should mention,
was accompanied by the Russian Consul, an-
nounced to them the sad and unexpected news
that the Government ordered them to sail for A-
lgiers. The indignation of the Poles may be
more easily imagined than described ; when
those who understood French explained the
meaning of the Prefect's words to their corn-
rades, it was asked, " Is it to Poles that you
hold this language,—to those who have
left behind them their country, their parents,
their wives, and their fortunes, in order to save
honour and liberty ? We came here by virtue
of a stipulation, and we did not embark before
the French Consul at Dantzic, a public func-
tionary of France, gave us his word of honour
that we were to disembark at Bordeaux and join
the rest of our brethren. You have cannon and
fortifications, do fire upon us with grape-shot,
and see whether any of us will ask for mercy.
Before asking any thing from France, we ask for
freedom." It is added that nearly half a day'
passed in parleying with them •,—they were firm
in refusing compliance with the treacherous and
tyrannic decree, by which the French Govern-
ment—not the French people—expressed their
readiness to immolate, as a peace-offering to the
Holy Alliance, the men who had formed the
advanced guard of the liberties of Europe, and
especially of France herself. We are told that
everywhere on the coast the inhabitants felt as
indignant as the Poles themselves. The garri-
son humiliated, and the officers and soldiers ma-
nifested everywhere one common feeling of sym-
pathy and admiration for this betrayed and per-
secuted band of heroes. From what we have
since learned, we fear that those barbarous orders
have been carried into execution.—Morning
Herald.

Many regret that, from the embarrassed state
of our finances, we are unable to play such a
part in Europe as we have been accustomed to
play. But our glory and our debt are cause
and effect. Were we rid of our debt to-morrow
under the influence of a disposition to inter-
meddle in the affairs of every country, we should
soon run up another score equally heavy. There
will always be some injustice to be redressed in
some quarter or other. The phrase which we too
often hear in the mouths of our present Mini-
sters, of national honour and dignity, is so
conveniently vague, that if the funds be forth-
coming, the pretext for war need never be
wanting. Were it not for the sufferings of the
nation under the pressure of excessive taxation,
we should almost be rejoiced at the obstacles
which our financial condition opposes to the
pragmatical, busy interference of this country with
what does not concern us, which has led to such
a wasteful expenditure. Thank God, we shall
have in the next Parliament a number of men
accustomed to business, who will probe our
finances, and introduce into them a severe economy.
Establishments must stand or fall, as they are
proved to be useful or unnecessary. Real and in-
dispensable services must be performed and fairly
rem unerated ;but of the expenditure of this country,
how large a portion is for services that may be
dispensed with, or for sinecures ? With a Bo-
roughmongering Parliament, the measure of our
financial ability would always have been the
measure of our expenditure. The possessors of
Parliamentary interest were too well aware of
the power over the national income which they
possessed, not to make the most of it. Fortu-
nate it is for the nation, that the pressure of
taxes became at length so insupportable, that the
demand for Parliamentary Reform as a means of
meeting the evil could no longer be resisted.—
If the nation had endeavoured to relieve itself
by a violation of contract with the'national cre-
ditor, we should have plunged again into the
same career of extravagance, because we should
have been without Reform. With the means
now at our command, we shall be enabled to di-
minish our expenditure at the right end. We
have never attempted to conceal the opinion that
the Law of Succession i❑ this country is con-
nected with our extravagant expenditure, and
that a reduction of our expenditure must intro-
duce a change into the Law of Succession,
while a change in the Law of Succession will
still further reduce the expenditure. One as-
sumes that we must have an Aristocracy ;
and we must have an extravagant expenditure,
because an Aristocracy cannot exist without a
large public expenditure. " I remember once
(says the able author of Newton Forster) when
conversing with an American, I inquired after
one or two of his countrymen, who, but a few
years before, were of great wealth and influence.
To one of my remarks he answered, In our
country, all the wealth and power at the time
attached to it does not prevent a name from sink-
ing into insignificance, or from being forgotten
soon after its possessor is dead ; for we do not
entail property. The distribution scatters the
amassed heap. by which the world around him
had been attracted; and although the distribu-
tion tends to the general fertilization of the coun-
try, yet with the disappearance, the influence of
-the possessor and even his name are soon forgot-
ten. Well, and what then do we gain by the
endeavour to perpetuate families ? Consult
Lord Collingwood's Memoirs; listen to the tale
of the threadbare. half-pay officers, who were
doomed to the mortification of remaining at
the bottom of the scale of promotion, while
beardless boys, possessed of interest, were
placed over them. We remember in our youth,
while military ardour had possession of the na-
tion, being present at a family consultation,
where a spirited young man having expressed a
strong wish to enter the army, a sensible rela-
tion told him, " You little know the mortifica-
tions to which every one is doomed who enters
the service without interest or fortune, You

are now voung and thoughtless, and see only
the bright side of the picture ; but *hilt
state for any man of feeling and spirit to be
In, to see youth after youth promoted over his
head—to see merit of no avail, and hopeless
poverty the only prospect of his declining
\ ears." The rertiOnstranee had its effect. The
author of Newton Forster, an experienced Offi-
cer of the Navy, well acquainted, of course,
with the feelings of the profession, makes an
old First Lieutenant act with some harshness
towards a Midshipman who had unexpectedly
succeeded to a title and estate. " I would
have called him down," muttered Mr. W, (the
Lieutenant), *hose teriiper had been soured
from long disappointment ; " but since he's a
Lord, he shall have a good spell of it before he
quits the service, and then we shall not have
his recommendation to others in his own rank
to come into it, and interfere with our promo-
►ion." Such is.the consequence of having a
privileged and an unprivileged caste ! We can-
not deny ourselves the satisfaction of quoting
from the same writer the following very sensible
observations on the above subject :

" It is a curious fact (he observes), although little com-
mented upon, how much society in general is affected by
the entailment of property in aristocratical fami ies upon
the male heir; we may add, how much it is demoralized.
The eldest son, accustomed from his earliest days to the
flattery and adulation of di) ndents, is impressed with
but one simple idea, name'y, that he is the fortunate per-
son deputed by chance to spend so many thousands per
annum, and that his bratlnrs and sisters, with equal
claims upon their parent, are to be almost dependant upon
him for support. Of this the latter are but too soon most
conscious, by the difference of treatment which they expe-
rience from those around them ; and feelings of envy and
ill-will towards their eldest brother are but too often the
result of such inequality. Thus, one of the greatest
charms in life, unity be ween brethren, is destroyed.
• • s C

During their father's life-time, they had a home, and were
brought up in scenes and et ith ideas commensurate with
the fortune which had been entailed. Now they find
themselves thrown upon the world, without means of
support, even adequate to their wants. Like the steward
in the parable, they cannot dite, to beg they are ashamed;'
and, like him, they too often resort to unworthy means to
supply their exigencies.
* • * * *

" But major part of our aristocracy are neither defi-
cient in talent nor in worth. They set a bright example
to the nobles of other countries, and very frequently even
to the less demoralized society of our own. Trammelled
by the deeds of their forefathers, they employ every means
in their power to remedy the evil, and a large proportion
of their younger branches find useful and honourable em-
ployment in the army, navy, or the church. But their
numl,ers cannot all be provided for by these channels, and
it is the country at large which is taxed to supply the
means of sustenance to the younger scions of the nobility ;
taxed directly in the shape of place and sinecure, indi-
rectly in various ways, but in no way so heavily as by tle
monopoly of the East India Company, which has long
been permitted to oppress the nation, that these detrimen-
gals (4s they have named themselves) may be provided
for. It is a well known fact, that there is hardly a Peer
in the Upper House, or many representatives of the people
in the Lower, who are not, or who do not anticipate to
be, under some obligation to the Company, by their rela-
tives or connections being provided for in these distant
climes; and it is this bribery (for bribery it is, in what-
ever guise it may appear) that upholds one of the most
glaring, the most oppressive of all monopolies, in the face
of common sense, common justice, and common decency.
Other taxes are principally felt by the higher and middling
classes ; but this most odious, this most galling tax, is
felt even in the cottage of the labourer, who cannot re-
turn to refresh himself after his day of toil with his fa-
vourite beverage without paying twice its value out of his
hard:earned pittance, to swell the dividend of the Com-
pany, and support these pruriencies of noble blood."
We trust then that the people of England, in
choosing their representatives, will look more
particularly to the subject of economy and re-
trenchment, as by economy and retrenchment
they will be enabled not merely to relieve the
present generation, but to strike at the root of
the grand source of demoralization of society.
Aristocracy and immorality are closely connected.
Estates cannot be continued long in the same
family without a fraud on the public. The in-
equalities in the distribution of church property,
bad as they are in themselves, are also deeply in-
jurious to the nation, by contributing to per-
petuate a system of social inequality and pillage.
The eyes of the people will soon be opened to
these great truths. The late Lord Redesdale
observed, that a Yorkshire clown, pointing to a
Bench of Magistrates, said, " Sir, there are two
hundred thousand pounds a year on that
Bench." His Lordship thought this creditable
to the Yorkshiretnan. We trust the pride of
Yorkshiremen will take a nobler direction than
this. The nation is, we think, in a fair way of
being cured of a taste for hugging its chains.—
Morning Chronicle.

HORRIBLE ACCIDENT BY EXPLOSION

OF GUNPOWDER.

Yesterday evening, a few minutes before seven
o'clock, the gentlemen residing in Furnival's Inn,
Holborn, and the inhabitants of the . surrounding
houses, were thrown into the most indescribable
alarm and consternation, by a sudden and awful
explosion, which shook the houses almost to their
foundations. The occupants of the chambers in the
Inn fled in all directions, to ascertain from whence
the report proceeded, when it was ascertained that
the chambers of a law student, named A. Barry, on
the first flour of the building No. 7, were on fire,
and the window frames and part of the wall of the
back room were carried into Furnival's Inn passage
immediately in the rear. The doors of the cham-
bers were locked on the inside, and although re-
peated knock. and kicks were resorted to, no answer
could be obtained from any person within. In a few
seconds, however, the front door was found open,
when the persons present were prevented from pass-
ing over the threshold by the immense smoke that
ensued, and the overpowering smell of gunpowder.
The groans of some person apparently in the greatest
agony could be distinctly heard in the bed-room; but
nothing could be observed, owing to the smoke, for
some moments. As soon a; this obstacle had some-
what abated,lights were perceived, and on going into
the bed-room, a mos: awful spectacle presented itself
—the unfortunate Mr. Barry was observed lying on
the floor, weltering in his blood, with scarcely a
rag on his back but what was scorched. Every
article of furniture in the room, including a valuable
piano forte arid a book-case, was completely demo-
lished ; in fact, the havoc that was made baffles all
description. The unfortunate young man was re-
moved in a state of insensibil ty into the front room,
and placed on a sofa. His face presented a mo•t
awful picture; both his eyes were nearly blown out
of their sockets, his right cheek was laid bare to the
hone, his nose was shattered to pieces, his left hand
was nearly divided, and several of his ribs on the left
side were fractured. Surgical aid was immediately
procured, and the wounds were partially dressed, the
unfortunate gentleman writhing with agony. After
a few moments he partly recovered, but not suffi-
ciently to explain how the awful calamity ensued.
The surgeons (Mr. Lloyd and another) after binding
up the lacerations, conceived it advisable to have
the sufferer taken to the hospital, where he was re-
moved with all speed in a hackney coach, without
the slightest hope of his recovery. It is conjec.ured
hat at the time the explosion took place, Mr. Barry,
who appears to be about 23 years of age, was making
some experiment in the use of gunpowder, which it
is well knoNn he frequently amused himself with.

EXTRAORDINARY FEAT.-- On Tuesday
Mr. NASH, landlord of the Royal Standard, in Frederick-
Street, within the hour, with apparent ease. He
:areret
from Hampstead road, for a wager of twen'y sovereigns,
Tyburn-turnpike at two o'clock, and accom-
plished the task with ease in fifty-eight minute', betray-
walkedtt six :
betray-
ing no symptoms of fatieue from the (ffoets of this ex-
traordinary feat of pedestrianism.

SUMMER ASST S.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT, YORK, SEPT. 4.

William Hodkins and Sarah Elam were put to
the bar on an indictment that ,;barged William Hod-
kins with feloniously ravishing Catherine Stacey,
and charged the female prisoner with aiding and
abetting hint in the commission of the said offence.
The prosecutrix, an intelligent child of 11 years
of age, lived as servant to the female prisoner Elam
in July last. Elam kept a public-house in Sheffield.
On the 17th of July the other prisoner, Bodkins,
and several other persons, were drinking at L'lam'a
house. Witness went to bed about 1 o'clock. She
slept in a room adjoining that in which Elam slept,
and there_ was only a thin partition of board between
them. Witness had not been in bed long when she
heard the outer door of the house shut, and sup-
posed that the men who had been drinking were
leaving the house. Shortly afterwards the two pri-
soners came up stairs. Elam desired witness to
make room in her bed for the other prisoner, and she
did so. Elam then went into her own rooms, and the
other prisoner undressed himself and went into
witness's bed. He had, on one occasion, slept in.
the bed with her before, and had not offend any
injury. In a short time he assaulted witness, who
screamed out to her mistress. The latter told her
to hold her tongue, or she would Ina! her. Hodkins
desisted for a time, but afterwards again assaulted
witness, who then got out of the bed, and went to-
wards another room, in which there was a bed, with
the intention of remaining there for the rest of the
night. The female prisoner got up, arid locke I the
door of the room in which witness slept, and forced
her back into the bed to the other prisoner. Hod-
kins then accomplished his purpose, in spite of wit-
ness's opposition. She called out to her mistress,
and knocked against the board partition, but was
desired to hold her tongue. Witness rose in the
morning earlier than the prisoners, but did not tell
any one at that time. She left her service in about
11 a week, and she did not tell her mother what had
happened until a week afterwards, when her mother
observing that the child seemed to be in pain, inter-
rogated her and learned the troth. Witness ac-
counted for her silence, by saying that she feared
her mother would beat her if she told her what had
happened. The two prisoners were taken into cus-
tody, and carried before a Magistrate. After their
first examination, a brother of the prisoner Hodkins
took the prosecutrix to Manchester, Liverpool, and
different places, but as the Magistrate would not
liberate the prisoner until the child was forthcoming,
she was, after a week's absence, sent back to Shef-
field, and left in the street, near the gaoler's house,
The male prisoner attempted to prove an alibi,
and called a witness who swore that he and the pri-
soner had slept together every night in the week
to which prosecutrix's evidence referred, and that
prisoner had not once been absent.
The Jury, after a long trial, found both prisoners
Guilty.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

A woman, named Powe I, applied to the LORD
MAYOR under circumstances of rather a singular
kind. She had been many years ago married to a
man who left her and went to Van Diemen's Land
For ten years she heard not a word about him. At
last she was informed, upon what she considered
good authority, that he had " gone the way of all
flesh," and she no longer thought she was bound to
look upon him as qualified to control herinclinwions.
She, accordingly, yielded to the entreaties of Mr.
Powell, became his Nife, and bore him several
children. A short time ago, however, news reached
her that her fist husband was alive, married to ano-
ther woman, and carrying on business in America.
They had been now separated 19 years, and Mrs.
Powell and her second husband, having fallen into
adversity, were obliged to apply to the parish of
Bishopsgate, where the first husband had a settle-
ment, for relief.

Mr. Booker, one of the parish officers, was quite
at a loss to know whether the children were to be
considered legitimate or not, now that it was ascer-
tained that the first husband was alive. By the de-
cision, one way or the other, the parish would be
affected, by being obliged either to support them,
or freed altogether from the incumbrance. It hap-
pened that the children had been all born in different
parishes, so that very great inconvenience would
arise from their being bastardized.
Mr. Hobler said the question was a very nice one.
The absence of a husband for seven years, during
which no account was received of him, certainly
established the impunity of the wife if she married
another man, but whether the children were illegiti-
mate under the circumstances was another matter.

The LORD MAYOR postponed the consideration
of the subject, and directed that in the mean time
relief should be afforded.
MARLBORO UGH-STREET.

Francis Steel, a well-grown youth, about 14
years of age, was brought up for re-examination,
charged with having plundered his father, Mr. Steel,
silver-smith, Oxford-street, of a large quantity of
jewellery; and Catherine Phillips, Amelia Saunders,
and Jane May, three young prostitutes, were also
charged with having incited him to commit the of-
fence, and afterwards receiving the property.
Mr. Steel had missed a great number of valuable
articles from his shop in Oxford-street, and having
set on foot an investigation, he was painfully sur-
prised at discovering that the delinquent was his
own son, who had, unfortunately, formed an ac-
quaintance with the three prisoners, who lived in a
brothel in Adam-and-Eve-court, arid that they had
been the cause of the serious loss he had sustained.

A great many duplicates of jewellery, of various
descriptions, and a quantity of valuable articles,
taken from the persons of the prisoners, were iden-
tified by Mr. Steel, as having formed part of the
property stolen from him.
The policemen who took the girls into custody
convicted them severally with the charge, by pro-
ducing the following proofs :—On Amelia Saunders
were found coral ear-rings and a coral necklace, with
four duplicai es of a brooch, locket, seal, and two
rings, all of which were sworn to by Mr. Steel.
On Catherine Phillips nothing was found, but she
was proved to have sold a pair of silver-edged can-
dlesticks and snuffers•tray to a publican, with whom
she had been in the habit of dealirtg. On Jane May
were founi coral necklaces, negliges, bracelets, an
several silver spoons.
Mr. DYER, after cautioning the prisoner to say
nothing which might criminate himself, asked him
if he wished to make any statement.
The youth replied that he had been persuaded
by Catherine 'Phillips and a girl named Lee (not
in custody) to rob his father of money and pro-
perty, and bring the plunder to them.
Mr. DYER remarked that at his age, with the
education he had received, he must have been fully
aware of the wickedness in attending to the girl's
solicitations.

The girl bounders in defence said that the articles
found on her had been exchanged .with Phillip for
others, and she declared that she was entirely
ignorant that Steel was in the habit of robbing his
father. With respect to the duplicates, they re-
ferred to property which Steel had at differe .t
times given to her, and which she had pledged. She
denied that she knew whereabouts Steel lived,
having met him accidentally in the street.
DYER said that there was evidence to show that
r
edewt
nt
presenti
asked,
neh .
r til o) sey
hapogauel
:aeprnvdpdttegioeveiraonspnt,t
deniedanddnnhe gggen:sst
look-
ing into the shop of Mr. Steel repeatedly.
g
yshoeucnhagathdsetrbeieneelen seen tapping at the window,and
for him.
money, and when he was
one evening,h Phillips
and J Jane en
necklace.
Maya
cs
ea d tThqpit:teleSnni
HtetiheivxYeeeetrldsehmeaavn
girl a ringy apnurdensdeatma.nsa.edceklace, andhilmn,faaleltegliitaigd
tmhaatdea
several
meraml
jewellery wseolmleeryfor
paid he would redeem them. She positively
that she knew his place of residence.
This was contradicted by the boy Steel, who de•
young maalar‘itliocivevsedohf

dared that he told her *here he lived on the first
evening he met with her, and that on the following
evening she came to the shop to look for him.
The girl Phillips here made a great outcry about
her innocence, and slid it was not her, but it was
the girl Lee who first persuaded Steel to rob his
fat her.

Steel said that they all knew he got the jewellery
out of his father's shop, and Phillips one evening
said to him why not get 1001. at once; upon which
another of the prisoners replied " What is the use of
1001., get as much as you can, and then we can go
into the country."
All the other prisoners were ordered to stand
remanded for a few days, in order to apprehend the
gill Lee,—so that they miglit take their trials to.
get her.

WORSHIP- STREET.
Yesterday, a journeyman weaver, named Thomas
Middleton, was charged before Messrs. BROUGHTON
and TWYFORD with purloining and embezzling 170
yards of silk, the property of Mr.. John . Parsons,
silk-merchant, Spitalfields.
It appearing that the principal witness against the , •
prisoner was not in attendance, the case was ad-
journed for-a week.
HATTON-GARDEN.
Mr. Sharman, the extensive coach-proprietor of the
801 l and Mouth, was summoned before R. A. LAING,
Esq., for carrying on the Shrewsbury coach, " The
Wonder," more outside passengers than allowed by law.
The information was laid by- Rawlings, who called as
his witness, James Stringle. He deposed, that on the
22,1 of August last he ..aur the defendant's coach going
limn London tow ads Shrewsbury with 1 I outside pas',
.engt-rs, b aides luggage. It was about 8 o'clock in the
morning be saw it, in the parish of S Rah Mims ; one of
the passenger:, was a boy about nine years of age; be
would swear he Witi above seven.

The defendant called Mr. Jeffries, the book-keeper,. : it;
who produced the book of the Wonder, in which were .
entered only eight and a half passengers, the child, being
under seven years of age, only paying half fare. Also the t:'
inspector of coaches, at the Angel, Islington, who saw the
tttach set off on the day named, said there were only nine
31
and a half passengers on the coach, including the guard. -
The boy did not appear to him to he more thin six years :1
old. A passenger, who was on the coach at the time, also 'l.l
proved the same Lets.
Mr. LAING asked of Rawlings's witness whether be saw I
the coach stop, or only counted when it was guingo4.47
He had not seen it stopped at all. „
Mr. LAING dismissed the information. IT'r
Rawlings was making some remarks upon the case, when
Mr. Lam; said, do not reply to me, Sir. , The case'
is dismissed. You allege that there were eleven outside
passengers, and they distinctly prove that there were only
nine adults. What snore would you have ?
There was another information against a driver named
Wrangle, for a like offence; but it appeared quit Rtiw-
lings had made a mistake in-drawing it up. That was
also dismissed, thereby leaving him little profit by his
day's labour.

BRUSSELS AND GERMAN PAPERS. -

BRUSSELS, SEPT. 1.-All our officers absent on fur-
h have received orders to join► their corps. "
Colonel Borremans, who was ptrdoned by the King on
occasion f his marriage, came out of the prison at Mons
on the 29th.
The late detachment of militiamen who are to malce
part of the army of reserve, has quitted A:l.m to go' to
Liege.

i4AMEIR, AuG. 31.—0 n Wednesday next, the pro-
ceedings against the partizans of Tornaco will commence.
The 29 prisoners, 01 whom 23 are accused of a capital
crime, will be defended by twenty members of the bar of
our city. The Witnesses are 68 in number. The indict-

ment contains four counts, in which the accused are
charged, some in one count, and some in another, with
having plotted to change or overthrow the Government in
the province of Luxemburg., and exciting civil war ; of
having raised troops for this purpose; of having, by
speeches at poqic meetings, or by printed placaxdo, excited
the inhabitants to commit such crimes ; of hiiing made
part of a seditious armed band ; of having been`guilty of
pillage, by taking away muskets, • &c. belonging 'to 93e
civic guard ; and of having carried off registers and docu-
na..nts from the officers of some receivers of taxca.
It is not confirmed that the Government has yet treated
about the second part of the loan of 48 millions, as several
journals have announced.
The Allgemaine HandelsPlitd, of the .-Slst aaya
" Within these few days the • exchange of. cauriers has
been very frequent at the H ague. On Thursday M. Ju-
not, Cabinet messenger, set out for London, with de-
spatches from our Government, and five couriers arrived
in the night of the 29th.

THE CHOLERA.
New Cases. Deaths. Recovs.
BRUSSELS, AUG. 27 to 30 ll7 68 not stated.

GHENT, AUG. 7tO :30........... 30

ANTW4P, AUG. 27 to 30 36

The Journals mention nearly thirty other places in
which the cholera has appeared. -At Hulpe, where there"
has been Only one case (not fatal), M Hennessy, whose
paper manufactory gives employment to almost the whole
of the poor classes, has ordered his workmen to leave off '
work the moment they feel the. slightest symptoms, and
to apply immediately to the physicians, promising to con-
tinue their wages during the whole time that their indis-
position may last, and to defray all the expenses that may
ensue from it.--Brussels Papers, Sept. 2.
ST UTTG A RD, Au G. 27.—1 n consequence of recent
events a considerable number of addresses have been sent '
to the King, expressive of gratitude to his Majesty and
confidence in his intentions. That of the Communes'of
the district of Meiningen says, among other things, that
the agitations of the present times are caused by the rest-
less spirits of wicked men, who do not consider the
evils that must ensue from their unworthy intrigues,
which have led to resolutions of the Diet of tl a C ,afe-
&ration, that have been laid bold of by the ill-disp 'fed
to excite alarms in the minds of the citizens, which alarms
could not but be dispelled by the declaration of the
Council of Ministers, afterwards confirmed by his Ma-
jesty. They are convinced that the King will maintain
the constitution inviolate, while their unalterable attach-
ment cannot give ground to any foreign interference in
their affairs ; and that such interference may not be brought
about by the violent proceedings of a few agitators,
they request his I'elajes•y to proceed with all the rigour of
the laws against those who endeavour to sow dissentinn: •
among the peaceable inhabitants.—Frankfurt Paper, ,
August 9.

A labouring mm, by the name of PEASE,
sitting by the fire-side with his wife, last Sunday, at
Shipdam, was struck dead by lightning, while the latter
was scarcely at all injured. Just at that moment he was
endeavouring to calm the alarm of his wife, who ap-
Peared extremely agitated on account of the tempest.
The bedstead, we understand, was dashed to pieces. • The
leztric fluid appears to have passed through his head,
and then to have run down his side. The hole in the
,ceding through which the fluid passed is about three -
qual ters of an inch in dianieter.—Norfolk Herald. ~

•
BIRTHS.
ountgheestlsadonyooff tWheillie:
On the 2d inst. in
alyerbe'one, Edward Berwick
On the 4th inst. at Paley-cot ag ,
Mrs. Clement, of a son.
NABB/ED.
ollington, near Ramey,
Henry
This
Newton,m ni
n' g
,0E
as,
it ih,
of Connaught-square, i i oa,mnns
:no
Inner
yiu;.ste,hr ,
ntAe-i
i)slair
yTu,
Harwood, Esq.,
of Bryanstone-square, and niece of the Vis-
countess Jadis, Escl,,.
countess
inst.Goderien
at St. George's, Hanover-square, the Rev.
of of the
to Maria Frances, only daughter of
uogest son of the late Right Hon. Sir Evan
Evan Nepean,dYr°s,
e Dorset, Bart. to Anne, second daughter of
Dr.o On the
Harwood,
Nepean, of Le - cr, Knight, his Majesty's Advocate-General. '
hjeinfinst at St. Giles's, Camberwell, Henry Sheppard.
,_ Amy, third daughter of
Law,,Lvqn-yen, Esq. of Peckham, Surrey,
Pike ''.l3--
)I) inst. at St. Mary's, Islington, Mr. Peter Bunnell., On the 4t i • d .
Martin's-le-Gran , to Eliza Matilda, eldest dauLhter of John
ttof ush-lane, London to
hody Burkitt, Esq. of Highbury-place.
10n-the 4th inst. at Lexden, William Wilson, Esq., FelloW
Commoner of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, to Hester Ann •
youngest daughter of John Fletcher Mills, Esq., of Lexden-Park,
orostnt.,..rbbee
Jr:
Essex.
On the 4th inst. at Stretton, Derbyshire, William Booth, Esq.,
of Beighton, Derbyshire, late Major in the 15th King's Hussars,
to Harriet, only daughter of Sir Wm. Cave Browne Cave, Bart., .
and niece of Sir Robert Wilmot, Bart., of Chaddesden The/ '
were present on the happy occasion the Earl Howe, Visconti,
Curzon, Hon. Mr. Curzon, Sir George and Lady Crewe, Mr. ano..
Mrs. Wilmot, of Chaddesden, and about thirty other friends and
relatives.
On the sth inst. at St. James's Church, Wm. Gi bmt, Esq., .of
Clapham, to Mary Ann, eldest daughter of Mr. Skelton, of Du:.
cadilly, and grand-daughter of the late Jahn Schweitzer, Esq., °`
Middlesex-place.

DIED.
On the 2d inst. at Carlisle, Robert Spottiswoode, Esq., of Little
New street London, in his 41st year.
On the sth inst., at Brixton, in the 26th year of her age,
Katharine Rose, wife of Ellis Cancellor, Esq., of Lambeth,
On the 4th inst., suddenly, Joseph Savill, Esq., of Guildford'
street, Itussell-square.
On the 4th inst. Mr. Lynch White, of Brixton, Surrey, aged V.
On the 3d inst., of a short illness, Mr. William Cousins, me.?
years a resident of Lambeth parish, eldest son of the late luo't,
William Cousins, formerly of the Tower of London, and
Maidstone, in the county of Kent, aged 54.
On the 27th ult. at Hill-house, Twyford, Berks, the D..
Thomas Eisdell, in his 77th year.

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