The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-21 00:00:00

•F:
NOVEMBER 21, 1850.
• tme 4';
1`..7 (. •
URSDAY
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SON'S HISTORY of EUROP3.
r.
.A.RY EDITION, handsomely printed on superfine ptb
tavo, to range with the Standard Editions of tha Enq
tn 14 vols.; Including a Copious Index, and is embellis
its. Price 101. 10s.

bad gone since silo left England, 42,200 miles. Her
Commander, Aldam, has been twenty-seven years in the
service (twenty-five years of it afloat on foreign sta.'
tions), nearly seven years a commander, six of which
serving afloat, and is now commanding one of the
smallest brigs in the service.
MORTALITY ON BOARD THE INDEFATIGABLE,—The
following is an extract from a letter, from the Inde-
fatigable, 50, Caitlin Smart, dated Port Royal,
Jamaica, Oct. 14th:—
" We bare just returned from a cruise to Greytown,
or Juan de Nicaragua, and I am sorry to say that a
dreadful fever has broken out on board. On the voyage
up we lost a man every day for six consecutive days, and
yesterday we sent 100 men and four officers to the hos-
pital, which is now quite full with our men and those of
the Bermuda schooner, Captain Jolly.
" We left the Persian, 12, Commander Bullman, et
Grey-town, with 57 on her sick list, and three deaths.
She is to be relieved on Thursday by the Inflexible, 6,
steam-sloop, Commander lloseason, uho sends her up
here.

" At Greytown every one is sickly, and the crews of
the American steamers are nearly all dead from fever,
trying to ascend the river to the Lake."
Meander, 44, Hon. Captain Keppel, left Valparaiso
24th August for Mexico, to collect freight, and the Swift
'was to follow and be under the orders of Captain Keppel.
Gorgon, 6, Commander Paynter, is to leave the Pacific
in the spring for England, her engines being out of order.
POBTSMOUTLT, WEDNESDAY.—Sir Godfrey Webster,
Bart., who recently paid off her Majesty's Steamer Tar-
tarus, after commanding her three years in the Medi-
terranean, is appointed by her Majesty's Government to
attend upon the officers of the Turkish ships now in this
port, who, under Sir Godfrey's escort, are about to visit
the chief national exhibitions in this country.
ccitiajTes'lntirrN;ibtr, hva s e'en. discharged the
r
vice at his own request, as we were misled into stating
abouth a month since. We make the above contradic-
tion upon the authority of the relatives of that nicer.
The Fury steam-sloop, Captain James Wilcox, ar-
rived at Spithead from China, last from Plymouth, this
afternoon. She sails to•morrow for Woolwich, to be
paid off.
The Retribution steam-frigate, Captain Warden, sailed
from Spithead this evening for Plymouth, to await fur-

ther orders.
Admiral the Hon. Sir Bilden Capel, Bart., K.C.8.,
Commander-iri-Chier, struck his flag this evening at
sunset, and went on Admiralty leave until Friday.
WooLwrcu, Nov. 20.—The Pluto steam-ves,iel,
Lieutenant-Commander Jolliffe, was paid off yesterday
at this port, and her Royal Marines, consisting or or;e
corporal and six privates, joined the Woolwich division

to which they belonged. -
The Avon stearn-tassel left Woolwich to-day on her
r,turn to Devon Fort, and will c4ll at Portsmouth on her

way round.
The li4rihntion steam-frigate, Captain Frederick
Warden, left Portsmouth yesterday morning with the
intention of trying her speed after the reunt alterations
made on hoard, and the addition of six guns to' her ar-
mament, but a strong head wind prevailing at the time,
she held en to Spithiad, and alter taking 30 tons of
powder on hoard, was to proceed to the Mediterranean
station. When passing the measured mile she made the
distance, under the advilse circumstances, at the rate of
upwards of 8 knots per hour, and. her average speed is
considered-equal to 10i knots per hour. Her engines, of
400-horse power, by John Penn and Son, worked with
the greatest satisfaction, making 20 revolutions per
minute, instead of 15, the number attained before the
recent changes in packing them and affording full power
to their capabilities, and the additional weight being put
on hoard, which has added greatly to the efficiency and
hatter trim of a fine frigate originally constructed for
engines of 800-horse power. With 30 tons of powder en
board, and her ballast consisting of upwards of 2,000
shot and shells, the Retribution will be welcome in the
Mediterranean.

sessed of equal civil.rights with the rest of her Ma-
jesty's subjects, we are not to concede to them, but
acquiesce in their seizing, the further right of deve-
loping to their natural and inevitable results the con-
stitutional tendencies of their Church, and, if so, at
what orticular point of the development we are to
say, " You shall go no further ?" If the erecting of
a new episcspal hierarchy and the assigning to them,
[to usr, the words of Dr. Wiseman, "_ a territorial

. ecclesiastecaljurisdiction without personal limitations"
—that .is, without designating the persons over whom
such jurisdiction is to be exercised, ought not to ex-
cite any feeling. in England, because it is only a
matter of the internal government of the Catholic
Church, where is this development to stop ? We
know from history that the infallible Roman Catholic
Church developed her internal government after this
fashion, till the world was astounded by the spectacle
of three Popes at the same time reciprocally excom-
municating each other; but the practical English
mind, which, being unversed in these holy mys-
teries, has never yet seen two persons claiming rival
episcopal jurisdiction over the same spot of English
land, is still disposed to ask, " If this be de-
velopment to your Church, is it not aggression on
mine ?"
HERALD.—The main drift and tenour of Dr.
Wiseman's. "Appeal," is, of course, like Mr. Bow-
yer's, to soothe and moderate the irritation naturally
felt by the people of England at the late Papal ag-
anti able men could be expected to do in such a case
ag-
gression. And we readily admit, that all that adroit
;.1,..ey have done. Their misfortune, however, is, that
their whole case rests upon a fallacy —the fallacy of
which we 315,2„5,,. a few days since. "You. have
to-len:red our religion, says Mr. Bowyer, " ergo,
everything that we can show to be a necessary and
settled feature in our religion, you must tolerate also."
To say that the Roman Catholic Church is not
illegal in her Majesty's dominions, and yet that a fun-
damental necessary doctrine of that Church is illegal,
would be a gross and-monstrous contradiction. If we
are not allowed by law to hold a doctrine without
which we should cease to be Roman Catholics, it
obviously and necessarily follows that the law
does not permit us to be Roman Catholics at all."
Now see to-what results this principle would lead
us. We tolerate, in one part of our dominions,
liindoos, and the Ilindoo religion. Well, it is a part
of their religion to burn poor widows on the ashes of
their husbands. How, then, on Mr. Bowyer's prin-
ciple, can we refuse to allow the smoking pile and the
human victim, wherever the priesthood may choose
to call for them ? Or, to come nearer home, im•
prison went within convent. walls,—sometimes im-
prisonment in silent cells and dungeons, is a well-
known part of the Romish system. How, then, are
we to refuse to yield the poor fugitive to the power of
roe Church, should one of
.these victims escape from
her confinement, and appeal to the law ? The truth
is, that Romanisrn is unfit for British soil, or for
liberty in any shape ; and it can only dwell among
freemen by greatly disguising itself. And therefore
the naked plea, " it is a part of our religion," will not
suffice. As we heard a sound and good lawyer ex-
claim, in answer to this plea,—" Well, if it is a part of
your religion to do that, it is a part of my religion to
hinder you." Nor, indeed, is this antagonism peculiar
to England. In many Romanist states the claims
of the Church are perpetually contested or denied.
Hence the prohibitory statues in Austria and in
France. Hence the continual recourse to the ex-
pedient of a Concordat to adjust the jarring preten-
sions of the Church on the one side, and the State on
the other. So much for the main reliance of Dr.
‘Viseinan and Mr. Bowyer. As for their wretched
attempts to draw a parallel between the appointment
of a single Protestant Bishop for the Mediterranean,
or a Missionary Bishop for Jerusalem, and the inva-
sion of Protestant England by a Cardinal and twelve
Roman Bishops—the feeling of contempt for those
who can employ such arguments, renders it difficult
gravely to reply. England has a multitude of Pro-
testant subjects in Gibraltar, Malta, and other parts
of the Mediterranean. Of course,.lsr. Wiseman and
his friends would prefer that England should leave
them to the mercy of the Romish priests of those
countries. But she does not choose wholly to do
so. She has various Protestant chaplains, and she
has at last sent a Protestant bishop. Who can say
that she has in the slightest degree overstepped her
subjugation
uhffnuooldo;jlrnitul nteahsgnefoaterotleil
on Catholics
which
plain duty, or at all interfered with the prero-
gative, in that part
of the world . As or Jerusalem, belonged to no
of sal. exisino, Jerusalem,
.niate. It was wholly missionary ground,
and as such it had two or three bishops of various
churches. One for the Protestants was needed, and
one was sent. Who has any right to complain ?
As for the Government of the country, its consent
was first asked and obtained. What similarity is there
in these cases to that of England ? Romish bishops
we bad already, :and no one molested them. Need
for alteration there was none. As to the plea of a
vast increase of Romanists, and consequent need of
more bishops, it is pure fiction. They chronicle their
converts, and they already reckon sixty-nine of our
clergy, and thirty students of our Universities.
Among our laity, especially of the middle classes, the
perverts may be reckoned by scores, not by hundreds.
But even if we were to allow them a gain of many
hundreds—nay, of two or three thousand—a most
excessive concession—within the last ten years,—what
is there in that gain to call for a new hierarchy, of an
archbishop and twelve bishops ? The simple truth is,
that the whole movement is aggressive. It is not set
on foot because England has become Popish, but in
order to make it so. Dr. Wiseman says that it is
strictly within the law. This we utterly deny. But
were it so, the same may be said of many crimes.
New offences against morals and religion are invented
in these days of movement ; and we are obliged to
meet them by new provisos. In the present case,
however, we do not believe that any such new provisos
will be found necessary ; many sound lawyers
havinir already declared, that the existing statutes are
-.efficient, if the Government will only put them in
force.
DAILY NEWS.—It has now become incumbent
-countrymen. For the last half century
upon every Protestant of this empire to consider well,
more, liberal men amongst us have entertained
one idea upon the subject, and directed
and by his opinion aid in determining, upon what
terms we are to live politically with our Roman Ca-
the one aim, that of removing from the
all
were t huonsfeo r their
tmarksunate unfortunately, but inevitably,
or
imposed upon them, as the consequence of that great
struggle, in which Protestants made the principles of
constitutional and religious freedom triumphant over
absolutism of government and of creed. During the
half century's effort of the liberals of this country
completely to emancipate the Catholics, their prelates
and leaders, both here and at Rome, preserved, with
some Irish exceptions, a policy and demeanour cal-
culated to aid and strengthen that effort. Had that
policy and that demeanour been continued, English
and Irish liberals would have advanced to the com-
pletion of the great work by some equitable settlement
of the Church question in Ireland. Cardinal Wise-
man, however, and the present advisers of the Pope,
carne to the opinion that the long, and brotherly, and
fruitful alliance, so long subsisting between Ca-
tholics and liberal Protestants, had endured long
enough. They do not want Protestant aid. They
mock at fraternity ; they fling alliance or conciliation
to the winds. A Papal bull, insulting to the nation,
to its history, its noble struggles, and its as noble
tolerance, is flung in the country's face. The most
lofty of dignities is created, and its titles assumed, in
the rudest possible defiance and discourtesy of a Queen
whose every act has been marked by liberality, kind-
ness, and conciliation towards the Roman Catholics,
their prelates, and their claims. And when this pro-
daces a national natural outburst, and a degree of in-
temperate indignation, unavoidable under such a
provocation, Cardinal Wiseman, who came in his own
wolf's clothing to provoke, puts on the lamb's for a
moment to expostulate, and inquire what is the matter.
In truth, we almost prefer the open insolence of the
Bull to the plausible and feline humility of certain por-
tions of the Appeal. The question, unfortunately, that
Protestants are now obliged to put to Catholics is, if we
struggle and succeed in placing you on an equality with
us, will you, in turn, consider us on an equality with
you? We believe that there is a large body of Roman
Catholics who would say, yes: and, as Protestants,
we would desire but that one small and simple
affirmation. We would sink every grudge, and
smooth away every difference. But the ultra-Mon-
tane Catholics, the Cullens and the Wisemans, do not
want any such fraternity, and will not tolerate any
such equality. In their eyes we are rebels, heretics :
the great and noble protest of the Reformation against
errors, which Roman Catholics themselves no longer
hold, is looked upon by them as a crime ; and the
great struggle for civil liberty bound up with that
religious protest, which has made this nation great
and free as it is, that is another heinous sin. The
object therefore of these political Romanists is to
undo all that we have been doing for the last two
centuries ; and as lois°.
rFswe aid them to equality,
they accept that aid, but merely es a step towards
re-establishing their old superiority and ascendancy.
With English Catholics we might have equality and
peace. But Dr. Wiseman tells us that, in his Ca-
tholicism there can be no "national church." The Gal-
ilean church of Louis X.
'IV. and XV. in France; the
Prunian Catholic Church, where education is secular

[PRICE SD.

and free, and where no prelate can be chosen by
the chapter unless he be agreeable to the king—Car-
dinal Wiseman
.will have none of this. The new
rule of the Court of Rome is to grasp all it can, im-
munity even from criminal and political jurisdiction
in Piedmont, and the same, no doubt, here, as soon as
there is power to demand it. Against such a political
sect as this—for ultra-Montane C..tioliciscir is more
a political than a religious sect—it is the duty of the
State of England, even more than of its Church, to
make a stand. It is orriainel by statute,
and supported by the law of nations, of
common . sense, of national interest and pride,
superior and anterior to any statute, that no foreign
potentate shall have dinniniou in this country,
tither to confer rank and dignity, or authority and
power- If the mortain law can be evaded, the weak-
ness of the death-bed taken advantage of to transfer
the property of landed gentry to an agent of the Pope
of Rome in this country—as we have shown to be
the case—it is for Parliament to look to it. If all

educOon is to be rendered null, and if colleges voted
by Parliament for the instruction of those who volun-
tarily repair to them, are to be denounced by the au-
thorities appointed in this country by a foreign court,
the same authorities can, in case of a war, take part
with a foreign enemy against us, and dissolve the
people from their allegiance. All these are the attri-
butes and characteristics of a political religion, and
though the State may have nothing to command or
prohibit in the way of dogma, it cannot suffer a poli-
tical imperium in imperio. According to some, all
these ditiulties and dangers may be met by sepa-
-1 rating Church from State, and by rendering the
Government above and indifferent to the dis-

putes and authorities of Churches. That may be
so, if the State retain the power of education, of
regulating the laws of marriage and bequests, of
monastic establishments, and of the temporal autho-
rity of vicars- apostolic. But in this case the State,
however separated from the Church, would have to
exercise a stern resistance to the pretensions of a poli-
tical church, such as Dr. Wiseman, pith one foot on
the Vatican, with French and Austrian influence
dominating there, and with another foot in Westmin-
ster, would exercise. Voluntaryism itself would not
free the State from the duty of that kind of resistance
which we think imperative. We shall not follow
Cardinal Wiseman into his disavowal of the Queen's
supremacy, or into his pleading that by the establish-
ment of a heirarchy, with himself at its head by
virtue of the Pope's bull only, he has not broken any
statute. This will be for the law authorities to decide.
He asserts that all thiS was done by the desire and pe-
tition of the Roman Catholic prelates and clergy.
We believe this to be the very reverse of the truth. The
Roman Catholic prelates and clergy in England desired
no such thing. They desired local freedom and a na-
tional church, having for its spiritual summit the
authority of the Reiman Pontiff, but not subjected to
the absolute control of a self-appointed Roman agent.
Tne Roman Catholic clergy in Eeglane are as much
in Cardinal Wiseman's power, as e ver Hungary was
in that of Haynau. They of course say nothing.
But the regime that has been established is as galling
to them as insulting to Englishmen. The diflerences,
however, between Dr. Wiseman and his clergy, Dr.
Wiseman and our law authorities, are not matters for
us to decide. Ir. is for the Attorney-General to give
an opinion as to whether he has committed the breach
of a statute. What we complain of is, that he has
broken that tacit and long- sub,isting pact between
the great Liberal party in England and the Roman
Catholics throughout the empire. We thought
them, and still hope to find them, Englishmen.
But lie would make them Romans, or Austrians,
or the intellectual serfs of any empire or ambitious
power that may happen to dominate in Central
Italy. -It seemed wise and just to our Ministers to
abet and recommend the introduction of constitutional
government into the states of Italy, as the best way
of reconciling the interests of the Sovereign with the
spirit of the people. Not the Pope, indeed, but the
Austrian and Neapolitan cardinals, into whose hands
he has fallen, have thought proper to take umbrage at
our liberal advice. And they have entered in conse-
quence into a system of petty and personal rivalry and
retaliation, as despicable as it is unjust, impolitic, and
illiberal. As this absolutist party in Rome employed
Archbishop Franzoni to disturb Piedmont and create
embarrassment to all liberal Governments, so it has
sent LCardinal Wiseman hither on the same errand.
And we forthwith find him at loggerheads and per-
Dow:glues witai OUT liialeters, 3tist as l'rnaaoni was
with Azeglio. Not all the sophistry of Cardinal
Wiseman can conceal these political moves, which we
shall not cease to resist and expose, far more as
Liberals than as Protestants.
POST.—The much :looked-for manifesto of Car-
dinal Wiseman is now before the world; and it is
from this Englishmen have to learn the best that can
be said in defence of the recent act of the Pope to-
wards this country. The Cardinal must have a bad
opinion of the understanding of our countrymen if he
supposes that he has any chance of deceiving them by
an eloquent statement, which but faintly alludes to
that which lies at the root of the question ; which
simply passes by every legal and political argument
urged by the whole press of England, as " clamour,"
devoid of all reason; and tells us that we have been
stirred tic by our bigoted clergy (who yet have lost
all held on our respect) to a mere interested outcry
against a harmless and oppressed race, the loyal Ca-
tholics of England and the meek martyrs of Ireland,
who bear it all without as much as a complaining
word ! England will yet tell Cardinal Wiseman
that she knows what she is about, better than he sup-
poses. We have our own way of viewing and stating
this great national question, and we shall not cast it
away fur the Cardinal's. We believe that this venture-
some prelate is born to work out the fact that Popery
of the ultramontane school is utterly incompatible
with the progress of civilisation in Europe, or the
existence of pod civil government anywhere. But
let him state his own case. We pass over, for the
present, the numerous topics demanding expoaure—if
he be not hardened against a mere moral infliction of
that kind--and we put the pith of the matter in his
own few words before our readers, that they may see
the paltry dilemma in which these cunning ecclesias-
tics, the Cardinal and his friends, imagine they have
caught this great nation :—" You cannot make a law
(he says) that Catholics shall only be governed by
Vicars-Apostolic, which would be acknowledeing
directly the Pope's power in this realm (which the
Protestant bishops under oath cannot do) ; still less
can you proceed to forbidding them to have bishops
of any sort, which would put them back into a worse
position than they were in during the operation of
the penal laws. Any step backward is a trenching
on the complete toleration granted us." So
the conclusion which we are required to de-
duce from this passage is, that we have com-
mitted ourselves, by our foolish generosity, to
anything which may, under the cover of " spiritual "
pretences, be attempted by the priests of Rome !
With unmatched effrontery, we are told that we have
admitted practically the Papal power among us, and
" for better or for worse," we now must needs have it.
Our " liberal" concessions of former years are
calmly quoted as tying us to results which were
deemed impossible at the time, and the suspicion of
which was said to be utterly unworthy. What was
then proffered -with English sincerity is to be now
calm
mn shallEj
judgment
dg admitglamned
n at
nu
ds
of
levied and demanded with more than Italian craft.
:nhpteieYercssie cute us again,
The Cardinal, in plain words, puts us to this—
" Roman Catholics are now absolute subjects of the
elyou,osvrees
not no
un
tadotipt:
aictoloolnu;
if you dare! but if not, the Pope shall absolutely
Wales, in all spiritual things,' and give no account
FasotpiriratLeittiavei,oces,
our readers, that the time is now fully come to try
this question :—Whether such an amount of power as
o'
fghovisermna'
the Pope arrogates—the Pope of De Maistre, and not
thteirssci:
of Bossuet—is compatible with any government on
earth ? We ask whether, if England is not to be as
disorganised and demoralised as all Europe, this " spi-
ritual wickedness in high places" must not be put
under a sterner restraint than statesmen has yet con-
templated? A religion which binds all its subjects
to obedience to one man, and that man a foreign priest
—a religion which holds all its members by secret
and compulsory bonds—a religion which is, in fact, a
most exactly organised social system, a political com-
bination, is something more than a religion, and must
be dealt with as something more. Such is Romanism ;
a most formidable combination in any country, and
the more formidable the more free. Such is Ro-
manism ; and it has pledged its absolute allegiance to
the Pope, who will wield it at his will. The sophis-
tries of this Jesuitical "appeal," by which the laity of
England are to be cajoled at the expense of their
clergy—Anglican laymen, according to Cardinal
Wiseman, being all just, and generous, and manly,
and fair ; and Anglican clergymen all full of avarice,
uncharitableness, and venom, must be laid bare with
no sparing hand. Oar social system is at stake, as
I well as our " Constitution."
,o

TilE G 1
labourers hay e been aßbEouArTFlanEemployed'
rAilc- l . A
for NE.—A h
several
in extricating from the ruins a vast quantity of goods.
Fifty tons of Russian bristles, about ten tons of horsehair,
number of
half a ton of sugar, eighty tons of gums, a large quantity of
brass, oils, horn tips, and many tons of iron work, such as
cranes, chains, scale beams, hydraulic presses, weights, and
irge
weeks
army accoutrements, a great number of rifles, •swords, and
other implements of warfare, are amongst the property re-
, covered.

RR. _ REFORM.
LLD, Nov. ~—The first annual meeting of
:tford Currency Society was held in the Town.
Retford, to-day. This society, which has for its
olject a revision of our monetary system, has excited
a great amount of interest in this district, particularly
amongst the agriculturists, who are now beginning
to perceive that the real cause of tbeir present de-
pressed state is to be attributed more to the currency
than they were aware of previously to the formation
of this society, whose exertions, as will be seen by the
report given below; have tended very much to inform
the agriculturists on the subject. The meeting was
attended by a highly respectable and intelligent class
of gentlemen residing in the town and neighbourhood.
JOHN MEE, Esq., .Retford, was unanimously called
to the chair, and briefly addressed the meeting, and

said it would be unnecessary in him to make any
lengthened remarks, as Mr. Twell.4, who had recently
very abl3- expressed himself on the subject at Derby
and other places, would address them. He might
state that the country in general was very much in-
debted to Mr. Twells for bringing the subject so

prori ' before
piounnently the public, for doing which he
could have no other motive than a disinterested desire
to promote the welfare of the country.—(Hear.)
M. WILKINSON, the secretary, read the account of
the receipts and expenditure for the past year, by
which it appeared that a small balance remained in

hand.
The Rev. Mr. TWELLS stated that the amount al-
ready received for the current year was such as to en-
able the society to carry on its work, and at the same
time he reminded tnetn that if that work were to go
on with energy, greatly increased means must be
placed at their disposal. He then read the following
REPORT.

" On the occasion of presenting their first annual re-
port, the Retford Currency Seeety beg leave very
briefly to review what has been done since the formation
of the society.
" At the time when the society originated with the
object of obtaining a revision of the monetary system,
it was stated that its practical operation would be to
circulate information on the subject of the currency, by
means of cheap publications; to promote lectures on the
currency, and to impress on our representatives in Par-
liament the importance of an alteration in the existing
laws.' In accordance with this declaration, the society
have issncd various cheap and plain publications, of
which about 15,000 have been circulated, and these, from
the commuuications received from different parts of the
country, have succeeded in awakening much interest on
the subject.
" The society obtained the valuable assistance of Mr.
Duncan, who delivered lectures on the currency at
Newark, Worksop, Lincoln, and Re:ford. At Lincoln
two very able lectures were given on the same day to
large and attentive audiences. Public meetings have
since been held at Tuxford (two), Retford (two), Work-
sop, °Herten, Carlton in Linderic, Market-Bosworth,
and Derby, at which addresses, explanatory of the so-
ciety's principles and objects. have been delivered by a
membsr of the society, Mr. Twells. These meetings, of
which reports have appeared in various London *suer pro-
vincial pa,,:ers, have called forth much attention to the
subject of the currency, and it appears from evidence that
cannot be doubted, that numbers of thinking men in all
parts of the United Kingdom are turning a serious con-
sideration to this important question.
" The committee take this opportunity to express
their thanks to the various organs of public intellieerce,
specially to the Loudon Sun and the Derbyshire
Courier, for the powerful and efficient assistance which
they to,ve reneered.
Peti,ioes to Parliament were unanimously adopted
at meetint s at Retford, Tuxford, Worksop. and Oiler-
ton. To these petitions a considerable number of highly
re-pectable sign Mures were attached, and they were pre-
sented to the Houser f Commons by Lord Henry Ben-
tinck and Lord Galway. A similar petition to the
House of Lords was presented by the Earl of Eglinton.
" In concluding this brief report the committee re-
peat the assertion that they have no party or elan in-
terest to serve. Their principles are clear and definite;
viz., gold at its market price, and paper currency ade-
quate in quantity, and scree and secure as to quality.
These principles of currency they advocate as the means
to an end, that end being the greatest possible happiness
of the greatest po-sible number, with the least
po-sible injury to the tenet possible number of their
fellow-countrymen."
Mr. E. HODGKINSON, of Morton Grange, moved,
" that the report be adopted, printed, and circulated,"
which was seconded by Mr. GEORGE JOHNSON, and
carried unanimously."
Mr. Tweees then said,—Gentlemen, you have heard
the report, and can judge for yourselves whether, con-
sidering the ditSculties under which the advocates of
the currency cause labour, and the email means placed
at our disposal, the society has effected as much as
could reasonably be expected during the short time it
has been in existence. Undoubtedly a considerable
impulse has been given to the question of the currency
by the operations of the society. The report, I be-
lieve, dues not overstate the effect produced. I have
full opportunity of knowing that what has been done
at Retford has caused considerable exertions to be
made by the friends of a revision of the present cur-
rency system in every part of the country. There
is a feeling that the question must come before the
public, that it cannot be kept back ; and it rests, gen-
tlemen, with us to do the best we can, calmly and
deliberately, but energetically and liberally, to help
forward the cause. I have frequently been asked,
" Do you really believe that the farmers under-
stand this intricate and difficult question of
the currency ?" and I have answered —"I
have no doubt of it." I do believe that
many of the farmers really do understand the practical
bearings of the currency on their interests. Some of
the farmers may not have much respect for the
opinion of Adam Smith, but he bad a great respect
for them. Speaking of husbandry, which he calls
" the great trade of the country," he says, " after
what are called the fine arts and the liberal profes-
sions, however, perhaps there is no trade which re-
quires so great an amount of knowledge and expe-
rience. The innumerable volumes which have been
written upon it in all our languages may satisfy us
that, amongst the wisest and most learned nations, it
has never been regarded as a matter very easily under-
stood; and from all these volumes we shall in vain
attempt to collect that knowledge of its various and
complicated operations which is commonly possessed
even by the common farmer, how contemptuously
soever the very contemptible authors of some of them
may sometimes affect to speak of him." Such was
Adam Smith's opinion when he wrote, seventy years
sgo, and since then the farmers of England have
made a great advance ; they are now, to a great ex-
tent, art educated race of men, and they are becoming
something better than whet is commonly understood
by an educated race, they are becoming thinking
men. Circumstances are forcing them to think
for themselves, to examine into the real cause of
their present depressed condition, and to search
out the most efficient remedy. I shall not
enter into the many causes which may be said, and
justly said, to contribute to the present agricultural
depression ; but I do say that the currency is one of
the most important of these causes. I say that the
experience of the las:, 30 years has plainly shown that
the violent contractions of the currency have most in-
juriously affected the agricultural interest, and the
tenant-farmers in particular ; and not only agricul-
ture, but productive industry in general, trade,
commerce, and the manufacturing interest have been
most severely dealt with, and, as a consequence, the
sufferings of the labouring classes have been, at times,
most heartrending and dreadful. I will take one
period, that of 1829 and 1830, because I have here, in.
a pamphlet entitled "England in 1830," extracts
from a number of petitions presented to Parliament,
in which the condition of the people is described by
themselves. A gentleman who comments in B4ll's
Weekly Messenger on a speech which I recently made
at Market Bosworth, says, "The most extreme agri-
cultural distress of 1829 and 1830 we hear of' for the
first time from Mr. Twells." Now, I hold in my
hand extracts from petitions from nearly every cournty
in England, in which the depressed stag of all classes
and interests in the country, and particularly of the
agricultural class, landowners, tenants, and labour era,
is described, and I have no doubt truly described, as
most deplorable. From the county of Suffolk, from
which the writer dates his letter, 16 petitions are
stated to have been presented, io which the
agricultural distress is portrayed in the strongest and
most decided language. In many of these petitions
the contraction of the currency and the alterations in
the value of the circulating medium are stated as im-
portant causes of the ruinous state of agriculture at
that period. The lapse of time obliterates the re-
membrance of former suffering, and with it the cause
of suffering is forgotten, and its removal ceases to be
an object of national interest. Eut I trust that this
writer, as he appears to think that some alteration is
required in the law by which the Bank of England
is obliged to buy gold at a fixed price, and to con-
tract its issues when gold is withdrawn, will give to
the subject of the currency an attentive considera-
tion, as I am persuaded that it will be found that
this question has a most important influence on the
condition of agriculture.;Now, let me trace the effects
of a contraction of the currency on all the industrial
interests of the country. Let us see how it works.
In consequence of the withdrawal of specie from its
coffers the Bank resolves to contract its issues, and
ceases to discount bills and make an advance on secu-
rities ; the other banks immediately do the same, and
the supply of the circulating medium is thus dimi-
ished. Merchants and traders contract their orders
as much as possible, whereby the demand for goods of
every kind from the manufacturer declines. Mills
begin to work hall time, and are then closed. Fur-
naces in the iron districts are allowed to go out
of blast. Numbers of operatives are thus
thrown out of work, and as they cease
to get wages their consumpcion, first of meat and
other kinds of food, and then of bread, lessens. Then
arises the difficulty which the small shopkeeper and
trader experience they have fewer customers, and
have great difficulty in obtaining payment for out-
standing bills. In proc.:ss of time this state of things
begins to affect the farmer. Ile has fewer customers
for the articles of consumption in which he deals: