The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-27 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 27, 1857.

CONTRACTS FOR VEGETABLES.
Department of the Comptroller for Victualling,
om ers e t House, 26th November, 1857.
rr HE Commissioners for Executing the Office of
11 Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
,nd freland, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, that on MONDAY,
the 14th December next, at half-past One o'clock, they will be
ready to treat with nob persons as may be willing to contract for
supplying (under separate contracts), all such quantities of

VEGETABLES,
as may be demanded for the me of her Majesty's Ships and Vessels
at the following places, from the Ist January, 1858, to the 31s
Starch, 18 0, both days included, viz. :
ENGLAND, &c.
Aldborough
Beaumaris -
Berwick
Burnham (Esvx) _
Dartmouth
Deal and the Downs
Fo'kestOne
rowcy
Harwich
Hastings
Holyhead
• Hull
Jersey and Guernsey
Lyme
Lymington
Milford Haven, Pembroke, and
Pater.
Vinehead
Poole • •
Portland and Portland Roads
Ryde
Southend
'wanage
Weymouth

SCOTLAND.
Aberdeen
Banff'
. Campbeltown
Glas.,b ow
Granton
Dfontrose
Oban
Peterhead
Queensferry
Stornoway.
Stranraer
Stromness

IRELAND.
Bantry flay
Berehaven
Carlingford
Castletownsend
Killibegs
Larne
Londonderry
Rathmullen
Sneem (Kenmare River)
Strangford
Valencia (Co. Kerry)
Westport
Separate tenders must be made for each port, and no attention
will be paid to any offers not so made.
None of the contracts -to be sub-let.
A forma of the tender may be obtained, and the conditions of the
evised contracts, to which particular attention Is called, may be
seen, at this office, or by applying to the Stoerintendent of her
Majesty's Dockyard at .Pembroke; to the Clerks In- ehar.ze at her
titijesty's Naval Yard at Deal ; to her. Majesty's Collector of Cus-
toms at Beaumaris, Berwick, Dartmouth, Folkestone,,Fowey,
wich, Hull, Jersey and Guernsey, Lyme, Poole, Weymouth,
Aberdeen, Banff, Campbeltown, Glasgow, Montrose, Peterhead,
Stornoway, Stranraer, Lond nderry, Westport, and to the Post-
masters at each of the other places.
No tender will be received after half-past one o'clock on the day of
treaty, nor any noticed unless made on the printed form provided for
the purpose; but it will not be necessary that the party tendering,
or an agent appointed by him, should attend at this office, as the
result of the offer received from each person will be communicated
to him and his proposed Sureties in writing.
Every tender must be delivered at the ab,,ve office, and signed by
two responsible persons, engaging to become bound with the person
endering, in the sum of 1001., for the due performance of each of
the contracts.

THE LATE MR. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD,
M.F.

The circumstances attending the lamented death
of Mr. Augustus Stafford, whose philanthropic
exertions in the East, and whose more recent effoi is
to improve the position of the Army Medical
Department, brought him into intimate relation
with our profession, require notice in these pages.
On the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 4thi this
gentleman, whilst staying at his Irish estate, near
Limerick, felt in his usual supposed-to-be-good
health. In the afternoon he complained of a pain
in the stomach, which he compared to attacks from
which he had suffered on former occasions. The
pain persisting, at five o'clock he despatched his
servant for his physician, Dr. Daniel Griffin, of the
adjoining town, giving directions at the same time
to countermand the presence of some friends, whom
he expected to dine with him. Dr. Griffin, who,
it may be mentioned is the brother of the late Dr.
William Griffin, known by his work on " Spinal
Irritation," and of the late lamented novelist,
Gerald Griffin, is a physician of repute in his district,
and the author of some valuable papers published
in the medical journals. In obedience to the sum-
mons, this gentleman was with Mr. Stafford by
half-past six o'clock. He found the patient suffer-
ing from most severe pain in the right side of the
abdomen. Dr. Griffin recognised the symptoms
as precisely similar to those of an attack for which
he had treatel Mr. Siafford just a year previously.
It appears that, anticipating this state of matters,
he had provided himself with the remedies which on
th at occasion had proved success—viz , laudanum
and tincture of henbane. He did not provide chlor
form, because he had found Mr. Stafford " very in-
susceptible to its influence on the former occasion."
Then ho gave an emetic, which caused an abundant
discharge of undigested fool. Now, having in the
first instance tried the same agency without the
like effect, he proceeded to administer the sedatives
which he had brought with him, in doses corre-
sponding in strength to those given in the previous
attack. The patient thus received within two hours
some three or four doses (the number is not clear),
each containing fifty drops of laudanum and fifty
drop of tincture of henbane, with some sulphuric
ether. The patient being still unrelieved,•fomenta-
tions, dec., having been used, Dr. Griffin bled him
from a free orifice to the extent of thirty ounces.
Another dose of the sedatives, of similar strength,
was then administered, and the patient fell asleep.
In this condition, believed to be satisfactory, he
was left by the doctor at nine o'clock. This "heavy
sleep" is described by Mr. Stafford's man-servant
as being continued up to two o'clock, and as being
accompanied by snoring—a most unusual event.
We next hear that this servant, sleeping in the
adjoining room, is aroused by his master, who had
risen from his bed and knocked at the door, teling
him to get up, for he was bleeding from the .arm.
It is found that several ounces of blood have been
lost ; the arm is secured, and Dr. Griffin is again
summoned. When he arrives, he finds Mr. Staf-
ford in a very alarming condition. He can be
roused from a state of stupor with the greatest
difficulty, and then only for a few seconds. Am-
monia and other stimulants are administered.
Bastinado by a razor-strop and by similarly con-
struced deal batons is applied with more zeal than
tenderness. The pulse is 140, and almost imper-
ceptible ; the respirations 6 per minute. Further
medical aid is sought. Dr. Wilkinson attends ;
the treatment above described is continued for more
than ten hours, when at about half-past six o'clock
in the evening the symptoms of narcotism go off
somewhat rapidly, leaving the patient exhausted.
It may be mentioned here that the electro-magnet,
the most easily applied, and the most successful of
all agents in cases like the present, seems not to
have been used.
With reference to the further progress of t e
symptoms,eiyt
si is be bap,
mmeesnt tailotneedge, that h
th er suppressedt e secret seof cretion
the first 48 hour', that the patient entirely lost his
desire for food, that his feet were very painful, and
s
condition,
hditieisn,sltvrhenieghthhewhaismsgerlefaatlty reduced.
tribut edte anlnevtheris.
dose of laudanum, Mr. Stafford resolved to go to
Dublin for further medical advice. He left Cral-
toe, his residence, described by Dr. Griffin as in " a
low marshy situation on the banks of the Shannon,"
and far unsuitable to his recovery, on Tuesday,
November 10th. He slept in Limerick or that
night ; and on the following evening he reached
Dublin. He was immediately seen by Sir Henry
Marsh, who found him in a state of extreme
debility, and who came to the conclusion that "he
had travelled too soon, and that he was not fit for
" such a journey as from Limerick. From Sir
Henry Marsh's evidence at the inquest held on the
body, we learn further that the secretion of the
kidneys was albuminous ; and, from another source,
that Mr. Stafford had been subject for some years
to a deranged action of those organs. The patient
never rallied, and died on the fourth day after his
arrival in Dublin. The post-mortem examination,
made by direction of the coroner, revealed the
cause of the original pain—viz., bile-stones in the
gall-bladder. The kidneys were found enlarged ;
and the heart is described by Mr. George Porter as
being " larger than natural, very soft, " its
parieties greatly thinned, its substance easily torn.
There " was a large quantity of fat on its right
side." Mr. Porter adds, "from the result of the
post-mortem examination, I would say he died of
fatty degeneration of the heart." Dr. Robert
Smith, who has paid attention to this subject, con-
firms Mr. Porter's opinion as to the state of the
heart, saying : "It was far advanced in disease ;
and I have seen death result from that cause in
cases whore the heart was not nearly so far advanced
in fatty degeneration." Sir H. Marsh testifying to
the same point, says : "Bleeding and narcoic me-
, dicine did unquestionably debilitate him. It is my
opinion that that debility did contribute to his
death ; but if he had had a perfectly sound heart
he would have recovered it all." Guided by these
opinion s, the jury agreed in finding that the de-
ceased died a natural death ; and that Dr. Griffin
was free from blame as to the treatment which he
had adopted. —Lancet.

DESTRUCTION OF FARM PRODUCE.—A fire broke out
in a stackyard at Newark, about mid-way between the
church and the Great Northern Railway station, between
10 and 11 o'clqck on the evening of the 1&11 inst. The
militiamen in the town were called up by the sound of
the bugle, and hundreds of people burned to the spot,
but owing to the difficulty experienced from several
causes in obtaining water, and the bursting of the hove
of the fire engine, it was not until the next morning that
the flames were got under, and the engines had to play
upon the embers throughout the following day. Four-
teen grain and fodder stacks were either consumed, or
rendered unfit-for consumption. The live stock were
promptly rescued on the first alarm of fire by Mr. Shep-
herd, of the Newark Arms, and a great deal of ant-
rounding property was caved by the exertions of the
firemen and their assistants. From the manner in which
the fire commenced, and from circumstances connected
i h its occurrence, it is believed to -have been the wog*
of au incendiary.-

CURRENCY RBFORM.

MEETING AT RETFORD.
( From th,e:Denlyshire Courier, May 11, 1850. )
On Saturday last a highly respectable meeting of per-
CODS favourable to a revision of Sir Robert Peel's Cur-
rency Bills wa,- held in the Town-hall, East Retford,
for the purpose of petitioning beth Houses of Parlia-
ment on the subject.'
Shortly after 5 o'clock, the hour at which the meeting
was called, a numerous and highly respectable company
of merchants and agriculmists of the town and neigh-
bourhood were present, amongst whom we noticed W.
Fisher, Eeq., the Mayor ; W. Glutton, Esq., Edwin-
stowe ; the Re,. J. Twelle, Vicar of Eaton ; Mr. Coun-
cillor Wilkinson, honorary secretary of the Retford Cur-
rency Society ; J. Me., Esq., Retford ; Mr. J. Lister,
Morton Grange ; Mr. T. Denman, Bevercoate ; Mr. R.
Wightman, Tor worth; Mr. F. Whits, juo, Retford ;
Mr. R. Baker, Garnston ; Mr. Cox ; Mr. Smith, Rother-
ham ; Mr. G. Johnson, Morton ; Mr. Councillor Hutch-
ineon, Retford; Mr. E. Hodgkinson ; Mr. T. Hodgkin-
son ; J. Walker, E:q., Loand ; Mr. J. Holmes, Ret-
ford ; Mr. H. Cottana, Morton ; Mr. John Wiegman,
Elksley, &c.

JOHN Mime Esq., having been unanimously called to
the chair, said he did not take the chair from his own
knowledge of the subject they were met upon ; but he
would at once call upon. the Rev. Mr. Teed's, vicar of
Eaton, to state to the meeting its objects, aid what they
proposed to have done.
The Rev. Mr. Tweens on rising wag received with ap-
plausses He said : I am always most happy to have Mr.
Mee in the chair at our meetings, but I also al ways re-
gret to hear him speak deprecatingly of his knowledge of
this subject, because I feel assured that though he may
not be prepared to enter into details, or to reply to every
sophism that may be urged, be does fully understand all
tLe great principles of the question, and sees their im-
portant bearing on the welfare of the nation. Though,
gentlemen, I have much pleasure in again meeting
you, that feeling is mingled with one of deep convic-
tion of the depressing circumstances under which any
portion of the agricultural body must at present as-
semble, I know that it is impossible for a farmer
to have to sell his produce without profit, or per-
haps at a loss, to have to pay his rent out of capital
or from his hardly earned savings, to look back on the
past year without satisfaction, and to look forward to
future years with gloomy satisfaction, without his
very existence being embittered by the difficulties of his
position—l can without affectation say that I do sin-
cerely enter into the feelings of an industrious and
intelligent tenant farmer who finds that he is being
ground to dust between the upper and nether mill-
stone of high taxes, rates, and rent on the one hand, and
low prices on the other, and that no effort of his own
can rescue him from this condition. And it is to endea-
vour by union to devise means of escape, to secure to
every industrious farmer, tradesmen, and labourer the
just reward of his exertions, that we meet together
to-day. Gentlemen, the present session of Parlia-
ment has been one of bitter disappointment to
every one who looked to Parliament for relief.
It is fast passing away nothing to relieve the
distress of the country has been effected ; nothing
will be effected. In the meanwhile from one end of
the country to the other we hear from the agriculturists
the declaration that " something must be done "--e-
--" something must be done or we shall be ruined."
Now, it is to dechre what that something is that we
meet together. \lre say, that at least one great cause of
the existing distress is the unjust, absurd, and ruinous
monetary system established by Peel's bills of 1819 and
1844. (Cheers.) That is what we wish to reform. Ours
is a clear, definite, understandable object. We put our
finger on the grievance, and we are prepared to point
out the remedy. And we think, aloe, teat if the
agricultural body is true to itself, and true t• the
country, that remedy may be obtained. Allow me to
call your attention to the present state of the agricultu-
rists. You are, as it appears tome, placed in a position
in which, for the filet time for the last 30 years, your in-
terests and the general interests of the country are be-
come strictly identical. During the tone of a protective
duty on corn it was possible for the agricultural 1 iterest
to be in a comparatively prosperous condition when the
other interests of the country were depressed. This is no
longer the case. The farmers will in future prosper
just as the nation prospers. trade, commerce, and
the manufacturing interests decline, you will cutler—if
they flourish, you will reap the aenetie I speak not of a
few nionthe of high prices of agricultural produce, which
may occasionally occur, but of the permanent condition
of the agricultural interest. It wi.l he effected by the
general condition of the country. If, therefore, you wish
to take, an enlightened view of your position, if you wish
to secure your beat interests, Ali to recure them per•
manently, you will seek to do so by a ivocating such
measures as may secure the general prosperity et
the nation. You will renounce all clans legi-lation, de-
cline to take pert in any scheme which may involve
injury to any other body of oar fellow-countrymen,
and endeavour to promote those objects which may
advance the general welfare. (Mar, hear.) The
state of things which I to-day represent as your posi-
tion was foreseen with great sagacity by Bir James
Graham in 1826 —he foresaw that the time must
come when the interests of the great agricultural body
must be placed on the same footing as those of the coun-
try at large. The subject of the currency, he has ob-
served, " in its nature intricate and foreign to the taste
of country gentleinee." " But," said he in 1820. " I
am certain that before long the whole question of eur
currency must be forced on the attention of tire Legisla-
ture by the landowners themselves, If they mein to pre-
serve their estates." Now let facts bear witness to the
sagacity of this opinion. A grand tran-fer of property
has already taken place from the landowners to the
monied interest. Jones' Loyd, (Lord 0 verstone) the re-
puted author of Peel's Bill of 1844, can ride many miles
on his immense estate on Northamptonshire—and his is
not a solitary instance. As is always the case the weakest
are the first to suffer. The Irish landowners are the
weakest in the British empire, and what is taking place
in Ireland I Why, within a few weeks three very large
landed proprietors, the Earls of Portarlington, Mount.
cashed, and Kingston will be divested of their estates
under the operation of the Encumbered Estates Com-
mission. The encumbrances on Lord Mountcaehel'e
estate are stated at 275,9144._ hose on Lord Kingston's
at 350,0001. I well remember visiting the magnificent
mansion and domain of Lord Kingston in the south of
Ireland. The house is one of the most splendid in the
country, the park opens upon a square which forms a part
of the town of Mitchelstown ; to this park all the inhabi-
tants are freely admitted, and one-halt of the square con•
sists of 17 houses, called the College, endowed by the
Kingston family for respectable eirso';s whose circum-
stances are reduced, and who have a house free of rent
and kept in repair, and an allowance of 401. a year. The
asiefortunes of the Kingston family have for years pro-
duced the greatest possible distress among many hun-
dreds of persons in the town and vicinity. That is one
case. There are 733 applications for sales of estates under
the Commission in Ireland. Gentlemen, it is to preserve
the estates of the landowner■ to their present possessors,
to prevent a state of things in this country similar to that
which is actually taking place in Ireland, that we seek to
obtain a revision of the currency laws. It might be sup•
posed thatthe landholders would take oars of themselves
—hut they have not done rm. Hear Sir J. Graham again
in his speech in the 'Jesse of Commons, in Feb. 21,1850
"I have always contended and the hon. member for
North Warwickshire (Mr. R. Spooner) will agree with
me, that the most improvident bargain that could have
been made by any great class was that which the laud•
lords made in 1819,
when, in consideration of an
exclusive corn law, which gave them the sole posses-
sion of the home market up to 80e. a-quarter, they
consented to the restoration of a depreciated standard
of value—a standard which had been depreciated for a
quarter of a century. That was an improvident bargain
I thought then, and I think so now. They are about to
preserve their class interests by asking fur the re-imposi-
tion of the corn laws, in the vain hope of advancing the
value of their property at the expense of, and in opposi-
tion to, the entire community. Let them be on their
guard. Now, what was the improvement bargain of 1819
to which Sir James Graham refers That bargain was
a money law to make everything cheap, and a corn
law to keep corn dear. That bargain was made by the
landowners in ignorance of the effects of Peel's 8.11
of 1819. They were told by the supporters of
that bill that it wouH only cause an alteration of
3to 4 per cent. They did not sea what Mr. Mat-
thias Attwood. with the sagacity of a philosopher
and a statesman demonstrated would be the ruinous
effects of that measure. The currency question
being "in its nature intricate and foreign to the taste of
country gentlemen," they did not look so narrowly into
the terms of the bargain ao did Sir James Graham. And
now, after years of constantly recurring distress, after a
painful struggle bet ween opposing interests, after a period
of p litic.dl agitation, which his of itself most injuriously
interfered with the industrial pursuits of the people, the
country has forced the agricultural body to relinquish
that part of their bargain which was for their advantage.
Now then, gentlemen, it behoves you, before landlords
and tenants are involved in one common ruin, it behoves
you to endeavour, by every means in your power, to
obtain a relinquishment of the other side of the bargain
—that part which is become your bad side of the bar-
gain—i e., to obtain a thorough reformation of the
monetary system established by Peel's Bill of 1819.
(Cheers.) And be assured that them are others be-ides
yourselves who aro convinced that this is the most im-
portant object you can pursue. I receive communices•
tions almost daily from various parts of the country
informing me of the interest which is being excited on
this qnestien. I will beg leave to read a short note which
I believe expresses the present opinion of a large body
of farmers at this time, " Until very lately," says the
writer, I have been a quiet farmer, not meddiing in
any way with things unconnected with the occupation
of my farm.- I have expended a great sum in straighten-
ing hedges, making roads, draining, building, &c., doing
what I hoped would ultimately pay me, but acting
somewhat upon the belief that in this outlay I was doing
only my duty to society. The great depreciation which
has lately taken place in the value of agricultural pro-
perty and produce has proved to roe that I have acted
unaisely—and I should still do so if I waited apatheti-
cally the ruin which awaits thefarmers as a class. I have
a family to care for, and I see no reason why either in jus-
tice or policy the farmer should lose caste or sink indi-
,

vidually in the nation. With these feelings, I have, to
a certain extent, turned political agitator in my neigh
bourhood, and 1 have stimulated my brother farmers
around me to a show of energy and determination. We
have at several public meetings discussed the grievances
which affect the agriculturists, as a body, but there are
several points which bear heavily upon us which also
affect the community at large. The Currency, I believe,
is one of them ; and to this source do I look, under pro-
vidence, for ultimate relief. I am not the only farmer in
this neighbourhood entertaining the belief that rill other
questions raised by farmers, as malt tax, property tax,
Protection, are secondary to the question of Currency."
Now, I believe the highly respectable and intelligent
author of this note to represent very fairly the feeling
which is every day growing and increasing amongst the
agricel uriets ; and it rests with you to do every-
thing you can to strengthen this feeling. The Na-
tional Currency Reform Association in London is
doing a great deal for the cause. A. highly respectable,
numerous, and intelligent meeting was held on Saturday
last at Reading, and a society was formed. In Wiltshire,
Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire,
Harts, and in several of the large towns—Liverpool and
others—the subject is commanding attention. Mr. Dun-
can is indefatigable in his exertions in town, and all that
can be effected by talent and devotion to the cause. will
be accomplished if the London Society is properly sup-
ported. We have also staunch adherents in this part
of the country. I am glad to have this opportunity of
expressing my thanks to the able writer (Alasseds),
in the Derbyshire Courier, for his efficient advocacy
of this question. He Rhone himself the true friend
of the farmer. I qaite admit the value of his sug-
gestion of the importance of persuading Sir J. Graham
to take up this question in earnest, but no man can
do justice in the House of Commons to the currency
question unless the country plainly and distinctly signi-
fies its intention to support him. I hope the country is
becoming every day batter informed on the sutject and
more alive to its importance. Bat to revert to the pre-
sent state of affairs. Nothing will be done in this session.
Every attempt for the relief of the distress has failed ;
Disraeli's plan fell to the ground, Cobden's financial
reform came to nothing, and Lord John Russell recently
challenged the Protectionists to bring forward a motion
to restore the corn laws. He knows his security—for all
the great parties, Woigs, Peelites, and Cob ten's party
are pledged to free trade, and whether the country pros-
pers or suffers they must now stand by their opinion. rhe
present Parliament was elected inthe autumn of 1847, so
that it has three years' more existence. I would ask
you calmly to consider what chance there is of obtaining
a re-enactment of the corn-laws in this Parliament But
what is the chance of doing so in a new Parliament! My
belief is that the longer the people, both the middle
classes aad the working classes, are accustomed to cheap
bread, the more unwilling they will be to relinquish it.
And what will be the result of a general election! I
hold in my hand the second annual report of the Free-
hold Land Society, which has been established at Bir-
mingham, for the purpose of " buying land wholesale,
and retailing it to the members at the wholesale price."
From this report it appears that 29 societies of the kind
are in existence in various places. From the returns
made from 25 of these places, it seems that about 11,500
shares were subscribed for in October last, and that the
number of members is rapidly increasing-11,500 shares
for which ls. ed. each is paid weekly, gave an amount
of 44,850/. a-year. Such a stun as this expended in the
purchase of 40s. freeholds must, in a few yea.u, mate-
rially increase the constituencies of the counties. Should
trade decline—and the depressed state of agriculture
must act most injuriously on the home trade—the
next Parliament is net unlikely to be less favourably
disposed towards a corn law than the present. But
.why
should these new voters be less anxious for the preserve
Lion of the institutions of the country than the old ones.
Only lit the country prosper—as with a good mouptary
system we deleve it would—and let every working man
get a fair day's wages for a fair day's work, and those
40.. freeholders would feel that they have a stake in the
country, and would become conservative in principle.
The importance to the agriculturists of the working
classes being well ()treats hardly he estimated. If there
are in Great Britain and Ireland five millions of working
men, an increase in their wages of merely 2s. a week
gives 26,000,0001. of which the greater part will. pro-
bably be spent in food. The wages paid in Sheffield are
now more than double what they were recently. Take
the number of working men in Sheffield at 28,000, and
an increase in their wages of 10g. a week would; give
a sum of 700,000/. a year—a considerable portion
of which must he paid to the agricultural producer.
(Hear, hear.) Now, as to the present position of the
currency question, let it be remembered that the Lords'
report of 1847 has spoken decidedly in favour, at leao,
of an alteration. Peel's system has had a fair trial of 30
years, and as Loid Ashburton said, has signally
I will read the petition which I beg leave to subunit to
you this eve ing. (Mr. T el lik here read the petition.)
Now, as to the last drawee of the petition, I would
observe that the aocumulation of money in the bank
is quite unprecedented—an:l yet trade in general
languishes. By the return of April the 20th,
there was 16, 620, 601/. in gold and silver, and
2,537,5001. of bank notop, lying idle. I received, a
day or two since, a communica ion from a London
banker, in which he says, " there is s little employ-
ment at this tints for money perm meetly, that altnongh
our broker lent yesterday 10,000/. at 11 per cent. I r
two or three weeks, yet it cannot get profitably dis-
parsed on account of the fear that exists of some change
suddenly calling it back again. Gold, at the market
price, would relieve this state of things, and spread satis-
faction over the country. It would remove the dread of
panic, and restore e.mfidence." Now, what says Lord
Bacon 1 " Above all things good policy is to be used,
that tbo treasures and monies in a State be not gathered
into fe hand.: for otherwise a State may have a good
stock, and yet starve ; and money is like muck, ne good,
expect it be spread." It is to remedy the evils of a system
by which money lies in heaps, and at one time cannot be
obtained, an the Lords' c immittee stated, without pay-
ing 20 er 80 per cent., and at another time cannot be
employed at 2 per cent, that we call upon Parliament.
It is the want of confidence, whice at present acts so in-
juriously on all interests. The railway interest affords a
striking in tense. While railways, the best managed,
and with ample security, have difficulty in obtaining
money on any terms, London bankers cannot obtain '2
per cent., and are afraid to lend money for More than
very short periods. I may observe with regard to railway
property, which is now so much depressed, how much
evil has unjustly been attributed to railway expendi-
ture. The country has spent, we are told, all its money
in railways. Now the Lords Committee spoke of
76,390,000/. as an "enormous sum," to be spent on rail-
ways in two hours and a half. But what were the sumac
expended during the war In 1813, we actually ex-
pends d 130,000,000/.-68 millions being raised in taxes,
and 82 millions in loan—and since then we have had 36
years peace, and the real property of the country ham,
we know, greatly increased. But, as Mr. C. Rowcroft
has 'stated, the amount of money raised and expended
during the 18 years, from 1797 to 1815, was no less. than
1451 millions, and of this 630 millions were expended on
the war—were sunk and lost in carrying on warfare. But
the whole amount of capital expended on railways from
1826 to 1843, is less than 200 millions. And in-tea lof
being fired away in powder and shot, this sum has been
spent in our own country in employing labour, stimu
lating trade, and providing a system of communica-
tion the most perfect ever witnessed, and tend
ing in innumerable ways to increase the nation', wealth.
With a steady and safe monetary system we might have
obtained all the advantages of railways, and have escaped
the ruinous depreciation of this kind of property which
has taken place since 1847. There is one other remark
which I venture to make with respect t 3 this question.
It is sometimes said, "If those things are of such i ro•
portance, how is it that they have not obtained the
sanction of statesmen I" To We it may be replied that
the science which regulates the distribution of wealth,
and ensures to labour its just rights, and to commerce its
most profitable exercise, is one in which much yet re
mains to be fully demonstrated. Adam Smith, Maccol-
looh, Mill, and others, are authors of recent date, and
left much tote yet learned on the subjects of which they
treated. And if other parts of political economy are im-
perfectly understood, we need not be surprised if mone-
tary science, perhaps the most intricate and sub-
tle of all, has not yet obtained the attention to which
its importance undoubtedly entitles it. Truth, how-
ever, is not less truth, before it obtains the eanctien
of great names, and the currency of popular accept-
ance. But if an appeal, in favour of the monetary sys-
tem we advocate, be made to authorities, we are not
without them. Lycurgus adopted the eystem of repre-
sentative money, by destroying the malleability of his
ornmodity.
iron coin, and rendering it valueless as, a c
forPlatodomestic circulation,
recommended
a double
while
leh
currency,te prneecioofu ni o v
metal,alu e ,
were, he said, useful only for external trade.
Aristotle agreed with the system we advocateri
,
in several particelars. From Lord Burleigh , Lo
Barren. and Lord Coke, down to King William 111., Mr
Newton, the
our
monetarycourse pursuedsyse
m wasby
these Locke,
great and r
nSei
nr Iwith'lac regard to
as Mr. Abytt wthooodbnhial
ise
nsih.otsw.
edn
ji raemctilay
Fo prpaonskeldin oo
one
ehaotf
adopted
the most cautious and sagacious of men, wrote a treatise
on "The nature and necessity of paper currency ;" he
attributed the prosperity of the American colonies to the
use of such a currency, and affirmed at the bar of the
House of Commons that its withdrawal had, by the
ruin it spread, alienated the colonies from the mother
country. The younger Pitt, the ablest financial Minister
perhaps that this country ever possessed, carried the
country safely through a period of unexampled difficulty
by the assistance of a representative paper currency.
Sir Walter Scott, in 1826, by his Malachi Malagrowther
letters, prevented the Government from overturning
that system of paper money, by which the prosperity
of his native country had been so essentially promoted.
Great names cannot give sanction to error, but they
adorn the truth. If our opponents appeal to authorities,
we ask them to show us higher authorities than those I
have mentioned. (Cheers.) And now, gentlemen, with
thanks for the patient and attentive hearing which you
have kindly afforded me, I leave this itnpor twit question
to your own energetic exertions. With many of you,
em persuaded, your own welfare and the comfort and
happiness of your families is at etake. It is for your
heaths and home that you inuet contend. Aud (per
destiny, under Providence, is in our own hands. For
0 the experience of this country for the last 50 yors has