The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-08 00:00:00

THE SCOTTISH BANKS.

Our columns this day contain additional evidence
of the feeling that is excited throughout Scotland, by
the more than suspected determination of Sir Robert
Peel to meddle with our one-pound notes. The
county of Renfrew and the county of Fife have both
passed strong resolutions in deprecation ofany change.
It has been said that the Scottish people are more in-
different to it than they were in 1826 ; and it has
been said also, that at present any great movement
upon the question would be premature, inasmuch as
the determination of the Government is only sus-
pected, but not known; and that it will be time
to stir when we are sure of the danger. The
first allegation of the indifference of the Scot-
tish people, if believed in England, would soon
prove the death-blow to our currency ; and
we shall duly chronicle every meeting that
takes place, whether of county or of town, of Cham-
ber of Commerce, or of Guildry, of employers or of
employed, to show that the indifference, if it ever
existed, is rapidly giving way to a feeling more akin
to indignation, that the whole industry of a peaceful
and uncomplaining country, should be sacrificed for the
theoretical whims of crotchet mongers or currency
quacks, whether in office or out of it. As regards the
second allegation, Sir Robert Peel has, over and over
again, in Parliament and elsewhere, expressed his
disapproval of the Scottish banking system. lie is
backed, moreover, by some great financial pam-
phleteers, both Whig and Tory, and by a strong
majority of English Members,. who will pay but a
slight regard to a question on Which they are unin-
formed, and to a people in Whose concerns they take
little or no interest. To wait till the Bill is
introduced will be to wait till the Bill is car-
ried; and we would urge upon all those who
are so inapprehensive and unsuspicious, that
they must delay till the hand is in their pocket before
they will grapple with the robber, however well
known his character, or menacing his gestures ; that
there is more than sufficient evidence of the intentions
of Government to justify not only alarm, but some-
thing better—speedy and decisive action to avert the
evil. Scotland, which has but a small number of re-
presentatives in Parliament, and which has been so
peaceful and so prosperous under her present banking
system, as not to occupy the thoughts of the Legis-
lature (except at grouse-shooting time), should, fur
that reason, be more jealous when the Government
does condescend to notice her, more especially when
the notice is uncalled for, and a grievance instead of
a benefit. It becomes, therefore, the paramount
duty of all who are interested (and who in Scotland,
be his circumstances and avocation what they
may, is not ?) to join • together and remon-
strate strongly and firmly against any interference.
It is well that the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
should take the lead in the movement ; and that the
Corporations and Guilds of Edinburgh should also
raise their voices in the same cause ; and that Ren-
frew end Fife, and even Ross and Inverness-shires,
should speak out their opinions ; but it would also be
well if some other counties and the great cities would
speak out ;—if Lanarkshire, fur instance, would tell
Sir Robert Peel to ltt it alone—and if the citizens
of Glasgow would, to the number of twenty or thirty
thousand, let the. Premier know that the feeling ex-
pressed in various parts of Scotland is not that of
moneyed men alone ;—not of proprietors of lands, or
mills, or shares in banks only, but the opinion of the
sensible and hard-working people. If this were done,
as we have no doubt it will be, some impression might
be made in the right quarter; and we might
be able to say now, in 1844, with as much truth as
Malachi Malagrowther said in 1826—" To whatever
deep and passive slumber our native country may
have been lulled from habits of peaceful acquiescence,
the Government have now found a way to awaken
her. The knife has gone to the very quick, and the
comatose patient is roused to most acute possession of
his feelings and his intellect. The heather is on fire
far and wide; and every man, woman, and child in
the country are bound by the duty they owe to their
native land to spread the alarm and increase the blaze.
The city of Edinburgh has uttered a voice be-
coming the ancient Queen of the North. The law
bodies and the gentry of Mid-Lothian have set the
example of petitioning Government and proclaiming
their sense of the measure designed; it has been fol-
lowed in other counties, and I trust to see it soon
spread into the smallest burghs, into the moat wild
districts of Scotland. There are none which the im-
pending misery will not reach—there are no Scotch-
men so humble that they have not a share in a na-
tional insult, so lowly that they will not suffer from a
national wrong—none that are uninterested in main-
taining our right both individually and as a people—
and none, I trust that have not spirit to do so by all
legal and peaceable means."
The pen of the gifted writer of this stirring appeal
would, if he were still amongst us, have been again
employed in the same cause, but his spirit remains in
his written words : _

0a... • •
" Scotland," said he, in 1826, " has not felt the
slightest inconvenience from the want of specie—
nay, it has never been in request among them. A
tradesman will take a guinea (sovereign) mere un-
willingly than a note of the same value—to the
peasant the coin is unknown. No one ever wishes
for specie save when on a journey to England. In
occasional runs upon particular houses, the notes of
other banking companies have always been the value
asked fur—no holder of these notes ever demanded
specie. The credit of one establishment might be
doubted for the time—that of the general system was
never brought into question. Even avarice, the
most suspicious of passions, has in no instance I ever
heard of, desired to compose her hoards by an accu-
mulation of the precious metals. The confidence in
the credit of our ordinary medium has not been
doubted even in the dreams of the most irritable and
jealous of human passions."
Such an opinion, coming from such a quarter,
would force, conviction even upon the mind of a
Minister, if the men of the present day would back it,
and let him know, in language not to be mistaken,
that its truth has not been affected by the eighteen
years that have elapsed since it was uttered. He
might also be reminded, that during those years
England has gone through several severe financial
struggles, and seen the failure of banks in every part
of the country, but that Scotland, with herone-pound
notes, odious as they may be upon the Stock Ex-
change of London, and in the bureaus of Down-
ing-street, has been free from panic, and never once
raised a complaining voice upon the matter.—Glas-
gow Argus.

A NIGGER'S IDEA OF THE MOON.—" Coffee, which
do you consider de most useful of de planets—de sun or
de moon?" "Well, Sambo, I tink the moon orter take
the fits rank in dat ar"tickler." "%V ha, wha, wha, why
you tink so, entree?" " Well. I tell 3-ou—kaze she
shines by night, when we want light, and de sun shines
by day, when we do not!" " WA, Coffee, you is the
greatest nigger I knose on —dat's a real fac.'
EXTRAORDINARY INCREASE IN THE VALUE OF
PROPERTY.—From a recent return made by order of the
vestry of St. Maulabone with respect to assessments in
Oxford-street, it appears that in the year 1777 a house,
situated on the north side of Oxford street, near Or-
chard-street, was rated in the parish books at 151. per
year. In the present year (1844) the same house lets
at 2201., and is rated in the books of Marylebone at 1201.
DEMOLITION OF GUY IN THE STREETS.--A most
amusing incident occurred on Tuesday in Guildford-
street, near the. Foundling Hospital. It was the anni-
versary of gunpowder plot, and, with.a laudable wish "to
produce something novel," many of the itinerant fruit-
sellers bad, for the nonce, converted their fruit-carts into
a Guy Fawkes vehicle. The carriage was (hewn by a
donkey, and upon the "plafond" of the same, sat a living
and highly de, sled impersonation of Guido himself, look--
• ing as great as Mr. Thompson's King in Hamlet ; the
" steed" was led by his confederate. Now, one of these
luckless pairs of wights happened to meet in Guildford-
street a party of rolicking Irishmen, who " happened "
to be armed with rather stiff shillelaghs ; and some way
or other, also happening to have Popish predilections, ,
did not feel pleased with the oration, which ended with
" Halloo, boys ! halloo. boys, God save the Queen ;"
and without ceremony or intimation set to work and i
knocked poor Guy off his perch, nearly detcolishirg cart,
donkey, and all. The affair, though only the work of a
moment, excited no little amusement.
Yesterday morning, an accident occurred in the
workhouse garden, which was followed by a fatal result.
The directors and guardians determined, a short time
since, to build some cottages adjoining the workhouse,
for the use of aged married couples who might become
itrnates ; and, yesterday morning, some labourers were
emp:oyed in removing the garden wall at the back of the
workt:.oose, for the purpose of clearing the site of the
intended ' ,:rections. In order to effect this object,
the earth had been cleared away from one side
of the wall to the foundation, a depth of about
three feet ; and one of the labourers, named Sidney
Smith, was stooping to pick up some stones, when
the wall, which from the foundation to the summit was
about six feet high, began to totter. Mr. Bartlett, the
Governor, who had just come up to the spot, observed
the motion, and shouted to the deceased to take care.
One step would have placed him out of danger ; instead
of will( h he raised himself from his stooping position,
and looked towards the wall, only in time to see a sec-
tion of it, 15 feet long, strike against the lower part of
his body. He was knocked down and crushed by the
falling mass : as soon as he could be extricated from
which he was taken to the Infirmary. Mr. Rugg, sur-
geon, was sent for, and promptly attended the sufferer ;
who, however, was so severely bruised that he only sur-
vived till ten o'clock. Deceased was between forty and
fifty years of age ; he was a widower, and resided in
Pimlico.—fl,igidon Gazette.
EXTIA -
. a. ORDINARY INSTANCE OF SAGACITY IN A FOX.
A fox, which was kept chained in a kennel of a gen-
tleman in Newark, a few night ago slipped its collar,
and in tine though
morning, every endeavour was made
to find it, no traces could be
discovered
for the whole of
that day and the following but on the morning of
the third day, greatly to tonaest; astonishment of the owner,
the animal was found in its kennel,tl having tra-
velled.been away.
many miles during the time it
iis,,,,,thit,it the
What makes the fact more extraordinaar
„-, o,nimal has been domesticated ever since iYt
üb, and therefore could not possibly have the. sligeehntesat
_ wletige of the surrounding country.
. \a'