The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-17 00:00:00

N°.18,117..] LONDON) THURSDAY , - • . . •
,
•- . OCTOBER 17, 1850.
.. 47

CATHOLIC LAW AND GENERAL LIFE
ASSURANCE COMPANY,
8, NEW COVENTRY-STREET, LE ICESTE R-SQUARE, LONDON.
The VOURTiI ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Proprie-
tors of this Companook place on the 25th instant, at the Dead
Office, at One o'clock precisely. The following is extracted front the
report, which is too 1 mgthy for publication:—
During the past ye ar no claims have arisen from deaths in Englanf..
together 7001., and but two in Ireland.—one for 5001. and the other :or 25a—making
which have been paid. This is far below the expected
in
and is especially favourable, when It is remembered how
severely the life offices generally suffered from the epidemic of last
year.
The number of lives assured between the Ist of June, 1.49,
the and
the 31st of May, 1850 was more than double the number Issued in
the twelve months pr,lcedirnr.
Propasals were made for 135 Policies, amounting to 52,9631.25. 6d.:
of these 121, comp:* isi ng• 106 lives, were accepted for 45,1251. 65.
Sixteen Policies trsed, representing 6,0481., upon which 3201. 33.
was received by the ,Company in the shape of premiums.
Since the cOMmel LOClTitent Of the COMpftllV to the Ist of June last,
assurances were e.Te,led to the extent of 110,072/. 120 6d., pro-
ducing in annual o,•erniums 3,732/. 1 Is. Gd. Of theSe 54 lapsed,
amounting to 23,9110/. 16s. 62., of which the annual premiums were
741/. is., leaving the, yearly income on'the Ist of June last equal to
2,9911. 15s. 11d.
Since last meeting' 'cans were applied for to the extent of 17,7001,
but 1,1831. 11s. 10d. a sly was advanced.
The Directors wend also highly gratified to report that within the
last four months 11_ ;5. hail considerably extended their business on
the Continent, having appointed, as Head Agent in France, Monsieur
de l'Etang, a gentle! n en of 'high 'standing in Paris, distinguished for
his integrity and at ility in financial and in all assurance matters,
who, under the sane ton and patronfre of the Archbishop of Paris,
the Cardinal Archbin ih p of Lyons, and Monseigneur Porisis, Eveque
de Langres, has alre ty within the last three months effected a con.-
siderab'e amount of Intsiness, not only in Life Assurances, but in An-
nuities both Immedi ri,,e and Deferred.
After various resol ntions, approving of the Report, and returning
thanks to the Right Reverend Chairman, Bishop Morris, the Vice-
Chairman, Actuary, :;ceretary, and Medical Officers of the establish-
ment, the meeting separated, highly gratified at its present results
and future prospects.

an average one, corn rises—if the quantity of money
be decreased, prices fall.—(Hear.) A very bad or
deficient harvest, is an exceptional case ; corn
then rises to a famine price, from the scarce-
ness of the commodity, as, with a very abundant
harvest, it falls from the plentifulness of the gifts of
Providence.—(Hear.) How then do facts bear out
this theory of common sense ? There have been two
periods of great increase of money. One, in the time
of Queen Elizsbeth, from the discovery of the Ame-
rican mines; the _ other when Mr. Pitt carried out
the system of a paper currency. What was the effect
of the increase of the circulating medium in Eliza-
beth's time ? From 1499 to 1560 the price of wheat
was 10s. and 5-12ths - a • quarter ; from 1561 to 1601
wheat was 475. 5 1-31 a quarter.—(Hear.) What was
the cause of this enormous rise ? " The discovery of
the abundant mines in America," says Adam Smith,
" seems to have been the sole cause of this diminution
in the value of silver in proportion to that of corn. It
is accounted for accordingly in the same manner by
everybody ; and there has never been any dispute,
either about the fact or • about the pause of it." Huw
few things are there about which Adam Smith, or
any other man, could say, and
say truly, " there
never has been any dispute !"—(Hear,) Look- .nextmext
at the still greater increase of the circulating me-
dium which took place in Pitt's time. What was
the state of the country in 1797—the period of
the Bank Restriction Act? After a long and ex-
pensive struggle with our American colonies, and
being at war with France, the gold and silver
of the country was nearly all drained away. The
Bank could no longer pay its notes in gold, and
afford assistance to Government. Our gold and silver
was exhausted: but were we therefore poor ? No,
the real wealth—the land, the mines, the houses, the
workshops of the world—rernained.—(Hear, bear.)
Our ships covered the seas, bearing away the produce
of our looms and mills, to exchange for the riches of
every clime. And, above all, our country was full of
men—(Cheers)—of an industrious, energetic, and
persevering population—a bold Anglo-Saxon race,
with stout hearts and willing hands, equal to all emer-
gencies, and prepared to encounter and overcome any
difficulties. These constitute the real wealth of a
ustion.—(Cheers.) And what did Pitt's measures do?
Why they provided a representative for all this real
wealth. A paper money which might distribute com-
modities—might enable men to exchange the produc-
tions of their industry, to buy and to sell, to pay
rents, taxes, and debts—in a ,word, to discharge, as
the bank notes did discharge, all the functions of
money.—(Hear, hear.) Every sovereign we have in
this country we have bought with our goods. So it
was then ; while the paper money was circulated at
home, our merchants were exchanging their goods for
other commodities, and gold and silver among other
1 things abroad ; and this gold and silver were sold to
Government, and with it our troops were paid and
foreign powers subsidized.—(Hear.) Under this sys.
tem the country flourished in spite of war, and all its
attendant evils. I say "in spite of war." For I
adopt the opinion of a man who has been a warrior
from his youth up—the Duke of Wellington—in
calling war " the greatest of all evils."—(Loud
cheers.) Morally, socially, and politically, war is
the most dreadful scourge which Providence has per-
mitted to visit the earth.—(Renewed cheering.) This
country felt, and felt severely at times, the evils of
war. The closing of ports and markets by French
influence was an evil. The seizure of ten millions of
property belonging to British merchants in the Baltic
ports caused much distress. The refusal of the Arne-
cans to take our goods, of which seven millions an-
nually were sold in the States—inflicted much suffer-
ing on our manufacturing districts. Still we spent
much in war—we lent large sums to Government—
we paid heavy taxes—and the nation progressed and
prospered.—(Hear, hear.) The reason of this was
that an adequate and abundant circulating medium
was provided. .In 1797, the hank notes in circula-
tion were 8,601,9641. ; in 1807, the circulation was
16,724,3681., or nearly double; in 1814, it was
28;291,8321., or more than three times as much
as in 1797.—(8ear, hear.) With this increase in
money prices rose. The Committee of the House
of Commons reported, in 1815, that the price
of wheat in this country, on an average of five
years, had never exceeded 501. a quarter. But the
average price of wheat, from 1794 to 1820, was 87s.
10d. a quarter, from 1809 to 1820, 98s. 9d. a quarter.
And observe there was no protection then.—(Hear.)
We were then a corn importing- country, and land
was constantly being brought into cultivation. Porter
states that, from 1797 to 1816, no less than 1779 In-.
closure Bills passed. We had also fewer mouths to
feed. The population of Great Britain, according to
Mr. M'Culloch was in 1801, 10,943,000—whi1e in
1848 it was 21,000,000.—(1Iear.) But it may be
said that this was a " fictitious price"—that it was
only a paper-money price. But in a highly taxed
country like ours the price, to be remunerative, must
be comparatively high ; for this reason—that the far-
mer and every producer, to get a remunerative price
cught to be able to add the amount of taxation to the
cost of production.—(Hear.) If you can produce
any article at a cost represented by four, and an
amount equal to two be added by taxation, your price
must become six to make it remunerative.—(hear.)
But high prices, as was before said, can only exist
with an abundant circulating medium. The system
of paper money in operation during the war supplied
this abundant circulation, and therefore enabled the
country to bear its heavy burdens, and to prosper in
spite of them.—(Hear.) What happened when our
e r iod nation's
commenced rejoicings o
i sstcraerscs e.
—1 y
efforts were at last crowned with an universal
povellecreb?eforeTahpe
(Hear.) How was this brought about? Immedi-
ately after peace was proclaimed, the Bank was in-
formed that its notes must be paid in gold at a fixed
price (viz., 31. 17s. 10id. an oz.) Accordingly the
Bank proceeded forthwith to draw in its notes. The
circulation, which, according to Mr. Loyd, was at its
highest in 1813 and 1814, was diminished nearly one-
halftahne same.dl
1817. The country hankers were
Prices declined immediately
—ruin followed. In March, 1815, the Corn Law
forced
e inc i tol 814
passed, which was to secure to the farmer 80s. a
quarter for his wheat ; in the following December,
the monthly average was 55,- 9d. a quarter, or 30
per cent. less than the law of March had fixed as a
remunerative price.—(Hear, hear.) The distress of
1816 was terrific. This is the description of it given
in January, 1817, by Mr. Tierney :—" Each succeed-
ing year since the war ended," said he, "has only
made things worse ; the distress, at first confined prin-
cipally to our agriculture, has spread to every branch
of trade and industry, and the national misery has
reached a point wholly without a precedent since the
Norman Conquest." The people were aghest, and
asked the cause of all this. They were told by their
rulers that it was the sudden transition from war to
peace which was ruining the country I—(Hear, hear.)
How was this distress removed? That question was
answered by the Bank directors in their evidence be-
fore the Committee of 1819 :—„ Was not 1816," it
was asked, " a period of very considerable commercial
" and agricultural distress?" " Very great indeed,'
answered Mr. Harman. Did not that distress ren-
der it necessary to relieve the public by an increased
iseue of bank-notes?" " Were not the advances
made in that year by the Bank to Government, a
distress. you have
great instrument of relieving the
'ful circulation ?"
spoken of, by affording more Plenty •
44 Yes ; inasmuch as they made nsoney plentiful."
Money was made plentiful, and the distress... vanished.
—(Hear.) But Government persevered publicin urging on
first change of
cash payments. Peel made his of
_ 1819 a
opinion, and came out of the
Committeee country
bullionist. In January, 1819, t...(3 I?: had fully
Prince
recovered from its prostration.had e
Regent told Parliament that he . the " great-
estinh
satisfaction in being able
and
that the trade, commerce,
manufactures
most flourishing
of the country were in a -
condition."—(dear, hear.)
The average price of
wheat for 1818 was 84s. a quarter ; agriculture was
therefore also flourishing. The d 1 r
.vnenlBuleBof
than no loss the coun-
try, without a new tax, increa
ge
4.700,0001. Peel's Bill passed on July 2, 1819.
The consquences of that tneasure..sh a_ll be described
to you by Mr. Matthias Attwheu
,lh a speech de-
livered by him on June 8, 1830 ,(which contains, I
venture to affirm, more statesinannee principles, more
profound and sagacious views on monetary science
than any speech delivered on this subject in either of
.
that
the Houses of Parliament)--m speech he says,
" That Act fell on the calm prosperity and labours of
erous industry of th
the people—on the presP and e
*sorder, to destroy. All
coun-
try—to confound, and di
the calamities of 1816 were renewed. The blow was
manufacturing population.
first felt by the olti Without
wages—without th
employment—without e means of
fron artificial
subsistence ; suffering
from famine
in the
midst of plenty—ignorantd tens of whence
the blow
came, by thousands anthousands, the manu-
facturing population prepared for resi •
stance." j,
e year,
November of the same Parliament was called
together again.
The prince Regent thus :addressed
them. " 1 have observed," he made in said,. " with great
concern the attempts _ some of the
manufacturing districts to tak.e advantagev of local
e; ffection te
distress to excite --sae
ent of the countr
insti-
tutions and governor .
is now fully
_
manifested utterly
kingdom, and aiming, hostile to
the constitution of this
..ng, not only
011tleel inatit •
at the change of those p institutions which

have hitherto constituted the pride and security of this
country, but at the subversion of the rights of pro-
perty, and of all order in society." The Luddites at
this time destroyed machinery, to which they attri-
buted their sufferings—riots broke out in Lancashire
—the farmers suffered next—thousaands were en-
tirely ruined—(Hear)—wheat wont down to 645. a
quarter—incendiary fires spread throughout-the rural
districts.—(Hear.) The Habeas Corpus Act was
suspended—and a special commission sent out to try,
condemn, and execute the rioters and rick burners._
(Hear.) The distress continued; in 1820 wheat was
sold at 53.3. 11d. a quarter, in 1821 at 46x.23, a
quarter, and in 1822 at 38s. ld. 'a quarter.—
(" True 1') Remember, there was no free trade
then.—(Hear.) The agriculturists were told that
their distress now arose from over production—
(Hear and laughter)—Providence had been too
bountiful, and their crops too good.—(Hear, hear.)
Again money was made plentiful. Lord London-
derry's Small Note Act, allowing 11. and 21. notes,
passed. By loans to Government, loans to the landed
interest, loans on public works, money was forced
into circulation. Pour millions were thus added
to the circulation. The country revived. Mr.
Tooke says that the circulating medium al-
together became 50 per cent. greater in 1825 than it
had been in 1823. The King, in his speech, said,
" There never was a period in the history of the coun-
try when all the great interests of society were, at the
same time, in so flourishing a condition." Prices
rose ; it became more profitable to the foreigner to
take our gold than our goods ; and by the end of 1825
scarcely a sovereign was left in the Bank. The cir-
culation was therefore rapidly contracted, by the
Bank withdrawing its issues, and in December, 1825,
broke out the panic.—(Hear.) The blow foil first on
the bankers. One-eighth part of the country banks
in England, and six of the London banks, stopped
payment. They were told that they deserved their
ruin—it arose from over-speculation—(Hear)—'.hat
over-speculation which, it it existed, Government
had done everything in their power to encourage.
The traders and manufacturers of the country speedily
felt the ill effects of the panic of 1825. They were
told that their sufferings arose from an over produc-
tion of commodities, They had worked too hard,
risen too early, been too ingenious in increasing
the produce of their industry.—(Hear and laughter.)
Yet the poor in the manufacturing districts
were starving, " with food in abundance staring
them in the face," says Mr. Francis; and 200
families were officially declared to have among
them only four blankets. The country continued
to suffar.—(Hear, hear.) The agricultural distress
of 1829 and 1830 was most extreme, and the House
of Commons was assailed with petitions from all parts
and from all interests, which even now cannot be
read without shrinking from the details of the misery
which they record. In 1832 occurred another panic,
though less severe than that of 1825. The Reform
Bill, which distress had driven the people to demand,
brought no relief. In 1834 wheat was sold for 41s.
5(1 , in 1535 for 365. Bd., and in 1836 for 365. a
quarter—stilt, no free trade, wheat being protected up
to 70s. a quarter.—(Hear, hear.) In 1837 came a
panic again, and in 1839 the Bank had to borrow 2i
millions of specie from the Bank of France to escape
bankruptcy.—(Hear hear.) Government, in 1843,
propounded the doctrine, that indirect taxation had
reached its limit. The Whigs went out, leaving a
deficit, the effect of bad money-laws, of 10,072,6381.,
and Peel again came into office and imposed the in-
come-tax. In 1844 Peel introduced his Bank Char-
ter Bill, in doing which he said that "during the last
20 years four decisive proof-,, at four distinct periods,
had been given, viz., in 1825, 1832, 1837, and 1839,
that under the present system of currency
the principle of convertibility is endangered."
This was the condemnation of his Bill
of 1819 by himself. He therefore proposed
to take "effectual measures"—the matured wisdom of
Bullionism—to prevent such evils recurring. Mr.
Goulbourn called this measure " a perfect system."—
(Hear, hear.) In October, 1847, came another dreadful
panic, in which the Bank was only saved from stop-
ping payment by the interference of the Government.
The late Lord Ashburton, therefore, justly called the
Bid of 1844 " a great experiment which had signally
failed."—(Hear.) Gentlemen, I have entered into
these details to show to you the repeated proofs
which we have had of the imperfection of our mone-
tary system ; to show how this country has been
forced for the last thirty years to alternate between
prosperity and distress, and to make it plain that,
whenever we hare had an adequate circulating me-
dium, prices have risen to a remunerative level and
we have enjoyed prosperity; and that whenever Peel's
system has come into active operation, and the circu-
lation has been contracted, forced cheapness has re-
sulted, and distress, misery, and ruin have pervaded
all classes.—(Hear, bear, and cheers.) But it were
useless to point out these evils unless we could also
point out their remedy. This can be done. The great
evil of the present system is the fixed price of gold.
The obligation on theßank to buy gold when it does
not want it, and to sell it when there is a drain, causes the
arbitrary expansions and contractions of the currency.
With gold at its market price the country flourished
during the war, and would again do so. Paper-
money, in which gold might rise and fall in price,
and which should be a legal tender for all pecuniary
obligations, might be provided in sufficient amount;
and made perfectly secure. There are various ways
in which this might be done. Pitt effected it by a
' Bank Restriction Act. I proposed a simple method
some time since, which might, with ease and facility,
be adopted, viz., to release the Bank from its obliga-
tion to buy gold when it had a certain sum, say four-
teen millions, of specie in its coffers, and also to re-
move the restriction of never issuing beyond the sum
of fourteen millions on securities. In the event of a
drain of gold, I would allow the Bank to
odnlewavoeusldthbee country,imm ediattehlye
issue notes
l
beyond this limit, on securities, and
i not only, as is
now the case, on the gold locked up n the issue de-
bank-notes.—(Hear.) But perhaps no
supplied by
plan has commended itself, so generally as the one
pvoariatmcerenatt.edTinhus,
proposed by Mr. John Taylor, of London, a gentle-
man who has thoroughly mastered the question, and has
the wc
hi
recnu lgaot
philosophically examined and elucidated it. He pro-
poses that a national paper money should be issued, of
11. notes and upwards, which issue should never exceed
in a year the amount of the annual taxation. This
money paid away by Government for the salaries of
its officers, for the dividends, and for all expenses,
would be a legal tender, and being receivable for
taxes would never be either in excess, nor liable to
depreciation. As the penny postage-stamps collect
the whole revenue of the Post-office, so would this
money collect the whole revenue of the nation.—
(Hear.) The arrangement of this plan would be
matter of detail, and presents no real difficulties. As
to private banks and banking companies, I would in-
terfere as little as possible with them—only taking
care to make their issues as secure as possible, that so
the currency of the nation might be rendered per-
fectly safe as gold itself.—(Hear.) Thus with a
paper-money system similar to that which we had
during the war, but better—improved by all the sug-
gestions which experience and philosophy, can present
—is it possible not to see that the prosperity and hap-
piness
of this country might be increased to an extent
scarcely yet contemplated.—(Hear.) We can tell
how this currency would increase the nation's
wealth It would replace a very expensive
medium of exchange—gold, by a very cheap
one—paper. The fifty or sixty millions of gold
which are now supposed to be in
circulation,
and which are merely used as counters, would
be then replaced by notes. Here at once would be a
saving of more than two millions a year, by.convert-
ing this large amount of dead stock into active, pro-
ductive stock.—(Hear.) Suppose a farmer had been
taught that it was necessary to use a golden plough-
shared worth 1,0001., and a man came to him and safl
" I will make for you a ploughshare of
lironwell
.for
100 pence, which will do the work just as we.
is plain that the farmer would bave• the difference.
as active
between 1,000/. and 100 pence to employ
• ' improve his land, drain,
capital.—(Hear.) He could
manure, and what not, when he had substituted
a
cheap ploughshare for a dear one.—(Hear, hear.)
ll.—But we say that a representative paper currency
would benefit the nation by rendering one circulating
medium independent of the foreign exchanges. When
gold flows into the country, the Bank increases its
issues, for it is forced to buy gold at a fixed price with
its paper. The rate of interest is lowered, and specu-
lation is forced upon the people from the difficulty
of obtaining a profitable investment for capital. When
gold goes out of the country, the Bank contracts its
issues, for it is liable to pay its notes in gold at 31.
17s. 101 d. an ounce. Hence money becomes exceed-
ingly scarce, interest rises enormously, prices fall,
trade is paralysed,
hoarding begins, panic ensues,
and distress and ruin, as in 1825, 1832, 1837, 1839,
and 1847, follow.—(Hear, htar.) The effect of the i
panic of 1825 s thus described by Sir James Graham
in his " Corn. and Currency" :—" Commerce is stag-
nated, manufactures suspended; masters are without
money, and men without employment; and ruin and
insurrection stalk throughout the land." " I be-
lieve," said Mr. Richard Cobden, in his evidence be-
fore a Committee of the House of Commons, " greater
evils have been occasioned to the trade and manufac-
tures of the country in 1836 and 1837, and the sub-
sequent periods, by the fluctuations in the currency ;

greater evils—pecuniary, social, and moral—than by
the direct failures of all the banks of issue since they
were first established in the country."—(Hear.) The
Manchester Chamber of Commerce in 1836 declared
that the loss on cotton, wool, silk, linen, and hard-
ware, amounted to forty millions through the Cur-
rency Laws. • In 1847, the loss to the country, as
stated by Mr. Richard Spooner in the House of
Commons, was upwards of 250 millions. These
ruinous fluctuations and panics would be obviated
under a well-regulated currency.—(Hear.)
But the most important advantage of a representative
paper currency is this—that we should obtain a cir-
culating medium capable of expansion, a money in
which prices would be able to rise as taxes areim-
posed, so that taxes might be added to the cost of
production, and a remunerative price be obtained.—
(Hear.) And further, as our population increased, and
our commodities increased also—in other words, as
our buyers and sellers increased, and the things to
be bought and sold increased—money, the me-
dium of exchange between man and man,
might increase in due proportion. Peop'e some-
times ask me why the law which governs, or which
ought to govern the currency, cannot he discovered ?
It is discovered. " Supply end demand," I say, is
the law of the currency. As men increase, more
food is required, and more clothes are required ; and
if left to itself the supply will increase with the de-
mand. So it is with money. Mske paper money
as safe as you please—make it as safe and secure as
gold itself, and this we can prove can be ,done—and
then leave the trade in money free. Leave it to the
genera!, the universal law of trade, viz., supply and
clemend.—(Hear, hear.) I say, that experience fully
justifies the expectations of an improved state of
things resulting from an alteration of the currency
laws. I say that the paper money system, which en-
abled this country to prosper in spite of war, would
produce tenfold advantages in a time of peace.—
(Hear.) Observe, Ido not say that paper money
would do everything. I do not say, for instance,
that it would enable a farmer to prosper without
skill, labour, judgment, and a fair amount of capital.
—(Hear.) Ido not say that it would supply the
place of science and of knowledge in the direction of
a man's energies. I know that under any financial
system vice, improvidence, and ignorance will bear
their pernicious fruits. Butl do say that it would secure
to labour its just reward; that it would afford to every
I man of integrity, talent, and energy a fair oppor-
tunity of improving his condition ; that it would pre-
vent the attempts which are made for raising the con-
dition of the people from being counteracted by the
frequent recurrence of those periods of severe distress
and privation in which their moral condition inevitably
deteriorates.—(Cheers.) I say that the paper-money
system, which enabled this country to lend to Go-
vernment 600 millions, would enable the country to
pay off the debt, and thus cause a reduction of
nearly thirty millions of taxes. I believe that
this country might then advance to a greater
height of happiness and prosperity than ever—
that instead of disunion and we might
see all classes flourishing, and contributing to each
other's prosperity ; that the well-being of the poor
would furnish the best secnrity for the possessions of
the rich ; that men would learn to prize the insti-
tutions under which they lived happily ; and that
England would become the instrument, in the hand of
Providence, of civilizing, elevating, and christianizing
the whole world.—(Loud cheers.) But, gentlemen,
I must apologize for taking so wide a range, as well
as for intruding thus long on your attention.—(No,
no, and cheers.) I thank you very sincerely for
the patient and indulgent hearing which you have
afforded me, and I commend this important sub-
ject to your examination and consideration. The
statements I have made are open to investiga-
tion—l submit them to your inquiry. Quod dixi,
dixi.—(Cheers.) Discussion is the best friend of
truth.—(Cheers.) I wish the subject to be fairly ex-
amined into. We have no party, no class interest, to
serve : " For each and for all, is our motto."—
(Cheers.) To extend commercial enterprise—to re-
store to agriculture its just remuneration—to ensure
to the rich the safe enjoyment of their abundance, and
to the poor man the just reward of his labour—this is
our object.—(Careers) I advocate the currency
question, in a word, because I wish to promote the
greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible
number, with the least possible injury to the lsast
possible number.—(Loud cheers) And the success
of this great question is a matter only of time.
Sooner or later, it will prevail. But we must all, in
our day and generation, do our part : for the inscruta-
ble decrees of Providence ordain, that every great and
good cause by which the happiness of our fellow-
creatures has to be promoted, must, under the blessing
of heaven, be worked out by the persevering energy
of man himself.—(Loud andgeneral applause.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
The second resolution, proposed by a member of
the association, and seconded by Mr. BRKKWELL, was
as follows :—" That this meeting is of opinion that the
farmers of Great Britain must look to an alteration of
the laws of currency as one just means of relieving
them from their present state of depression ; and they
therefore direct the committee of the society to take
steps for obtaining a revision of the present monetary
system established by Peel's Bills of 1819 and 1844."
Carried unanimously.
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN moved, and Mr. HARRISON Se-
conded, a vote of thanks to Mr. Twells for his able
and eloquent address.
Mr. HARRISON observed that this was not the first
time they had met in that room, and that more than
once, during their discussion on other topics, some of
them had expressed their opinion that the existing
currency system had a great deal to do with the pre-
sent position of the farmer.—(Hear, hear.) For
himself he did not think they would ever get
their rents reduced to their proper level, until
the currency-laws were reformed.—(Hear.) Mr.
Harrison then rapidly gave a sketch of his
own experience as to the extraordinary fluc-
tuations in the price of stock as well as
produce, which had taken place concurrently with the
various alterations in the Bank issues and restrictions
of issue since 1819.20 ; but we are here compelled by
want of space to conclude our report by stating that
Mr. Harrison, after strongly repeating his conviction
of the necessity of the Currency Returns Movement
being vigorously pushed onward, said the question
having thus been once formally mooted among them,
he trusted it would not be allowed to drop.—(Hear,
hear.) They must look on this as only a preliminary
meeting. They must get further information; and
they must discuss it again and again, to see whether
they were right in their views or not, though they
would not always be as fortunate as they had been
that evening in securing the asdstance of so able an
expositor,as Mr. Twells.—(Hear, hear.) Truth, how-
ever, was truth; truth and justice only had been ad-
vocated in that association ; and so long as their body
held together, he believed they would be advocated
there.—(Cheers.)
Mr. TWELLS briefly replied, and added that it gave
him great pleasure to visit so practical an association
as that at Market Bosworth.
After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meet-
ing—the interest of which was kept up to the very
last—separated about half-past six o'clock.

THE LONDON \VATERMEN, LIGHTEREMEN,

AND STEAM-BOATS.
" Rare John Taylor, the water poet," in the days of
James I. and Charles 1., with whose name I found most
of the watermen familiar (at least they had heard of
him), complained of the decay of his trade as a water-
man, inasmuch as in his latter days " every Gill Turn-
tripe, Mistress Tumkins, Madame Policot, my Lady
Trash, Froth the tapater, Bill the tailor, Lavender the
broker, Whiff ,the tobacco seller, with their companion
trolls, must be coached." Ile complained that wheeled
conveyances ashore, although:they made "the casements
shatter, tatter, and clatter," were preferred to boats,
and were the ruin of the watermen; and it is somewhat
remarkable that the watermen of our day complain of
the same detriment from wheeled conveyances on the
water.

The census of 1841 gives the following result as to
the number of those employed in boat work in the me-
tropolis:—
Boat and bargemen, and women 2,516
lightermen
11 W ater men 1,654

5,673
The increase of the river ctean•boats from 1820 is
evinced by the following table:—
Years. No. of River Stennar.rs. No. of Voyagts.
1820
1830
1835
—Chronicle.

THE DODDINGTON MURDER.—BRENTWOOD, WED-
NESDAY.—In accordance with the instructions of the magis-
trate, who opened a special court on Sunday for the purpose
of hearing the charge of murder against Thomas Drory, the
prisoner was brought up last evening before Mr. Leisher, ore
f the county justices, and Mr. C. C. Lewis, the coroner, who
also acts as clerk to the bench of magistrates. Mr. Leisher,
hearing from Mr. Lewis that his investigation had been ad-
journed for the purpose of receiving some important facts in
relation to the tragical occurrence, determined for the present
on not clashing with the proceedings already commenced, as
it night have the effect of impeding the ends of justice. The
evidence of Superintendent Coulson as to the apprehension
of the prisoner, the body of the deceased, and other details,
were therefore taken, so as to justify. his detention, and the
magistrate, after duly cautioning him, remanded him until
after the sittings of the adjourned inquiry of the coroner. He
appeared little concerned at the awful POW= in which be
wa* placed.