The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-22 00:00:00

PROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—The Anti-Corn-law League held another
of its "monster meetings" last night in Covent-garden
Theatre. It was marked by as much enthusiasm in the
assemblage, which filled every part of the immense
building, as has been exhibited atatny previous meeting.
The unity of the object sought les be attained by the
confederation ; the frequency of like -opportunities af-
forded to the public for becoming eisequainted with the
question ; and the necessary repetition of the same facts
and arguments by the speakers, many of whom appear
frequently in the same place, to re-state the same facts
and iterate the same arguments, would, ere this, have
palled upon the satiated ear of the mere cravers
after novelty. The unabated interest manifested by the
public in the struggle now going on between the advo-
cates of free trade and the supporters of monopoly,
both in the metropoiis and in every part of the king-
dom, demonstrates the firm hold which the question,
now fairly placed in issue, has' taken of the national
mind and feeling. The trading and manufacturing parts
of the community regard their means of supporting
themselves and families as bound up with the decision
of this controversy. Their sympathies are, consequently,
with the League ; and while thousands congregate
within the buildings in which the meetings are periodi-
cally Or occasionally held, tens of thousands devour the
reports of the proceedings, and thuibecome increasingly
enlightend by the arguments, and are more deeply im-
pressed by the facts of which the speeches were com-
posed. The meeting of last evening was marked by two
circumstances of some interest. Lord Radnor presided ;
and .two tenant-farmers—members of the class for
whose special advantage, if the advocates of the corn-
laws are to be believed, the restriction upon importation
is maintained—denounced the existing system as un-
sound in principle, and as fraught with mischiefs to
the agriculturists ; while it subdues the energies of
commerce and restricts the operations of manufacturing
industry. In the course of his elaborate opening speech,
Lord Radnor stated a fact—for the correctness of which
he referred to the classification affixed to the population
returns, taken under the Census Act—that " there has
been for a considerable number of years a gradually
diminishing proportion of the population employed in
the pursuits of agriculture." A collateral fact was also
stated, and proved from the same unquestionable source,
viz., that " contemporaneously with the diminished num-
ber of the people, employed in agriculture, the number
of persons employed in manufactures has increased."
The Noble Lord then proceeded to demonstrate, from
facts, the pitiable failure of the various experiments
which had been tried to protect the farmers from
variable and ruinously-depressed markets, by means of
what has been falsely called " a protective system ;" and.
argued that the best security to the farmers and farm la-
bourers would be found in an abolition of the protective
duties. The speech of Mr. Lattimore—who announced
himself "a tenant-farmer, who would satisfy any one
who doubted that he was one "—was replete with facts
and statements strongly confirmatory of the impolicy of
the existing corn-laws, which he described as having
wrought ruin to many farmers within the sphere of his
own immediate knowledge. Mr. Lattimore proceeded to
describe the farming labourers' condition under the
" protective system." Like slavery, it is neither good
for the masters nor for the men:—" But, forsooth, it
was said the corn-laws were necessary to be con-
tinued for the sake of the labourers. If they could
reduce that wretched class to a lower state than
that in which they were now placed, it would be
frightful indeed.—(Cheers.) It was a melancholy reflec-
tion that in this country the reward attainable by in
dustry should be so small. —(Cheers.) He had heard
of the price paid for making shirts and the toiling of
poor females day and night on other work, by which
they scarcely obtained a livelihood—(Hear, hear)—
but he would tell them that the poor labourer in the
agricultural districts was scarcely able to obtain a
sufficiency of food.—(Hear, hear.) He had known
instances where labourers, with a large family of
children, had vegetated—he would not say lived—
on 9s. a week, two of which were paid for rent,
and poor-rates were paid on the remaining 7s.—(Hear,
hear, and cries of " Shaine")—instances where these
poor creatures had to subsist, with their families, on
even 7s. per week, and but for the sympathy and kind-
ness of those who lived near them, they isiust all but
perish for want.—(Hear, hear.) He should like to see
the advocates of corn-laws go and take their tax in
kind.—(Hear, hear.) If they could see the deplorable
state of the famishing families of the agricultural la-
bourers, they would no doubt think it a fit study for an
'artist as a frontispiece for a Protection Hall.—(Cheers.)"
This, be it remembered, is no fancy sketch, but the
statement of a tenant-farmer, whose name and place of
residence are given, and who comes forward to state
that which, if not consistent with truth and fact, is
easy of confutation. Will any one undertake to dis-
pute the facts, or to disprove the statements ?
Mr. Hunt described himself as " tenant-farmer—
a tenant-farmer only—and, comparatively speaking, a
poor-tenant-farmer." He verified the statements of
Mr. Lattimore ; and delivered a plain, unvarnished, but
very impressive description of the depressed and de-
pendent state of the class to which he belonged ; and
which he ascribed to the system which the farmers were
called upon by the landlords to assist in upholding.
His remarks on the state of vassalage under which the
tenant-farmers are held by the existing system,
and by which they are made the mere tools of the
landlords for their political purposes, and selfish
maintenance of their restrictive laws, well deserve at-
tention ; but our limited space forbids. Let those who
bestow their sympathies upon the over-worked and ill-
remunerated manufacturing labourers, and who would
demonstrate their humanity by diminishing their hours of
labour, and thus diminish their means of obtaining food—
let them turn their eyes to the victims of their own selfish
adhesion to an insane and cruel policy, under the iron
operations of which both the manufacturing and agricul-
tural labourers are pressed down to the confines of
starvation !
STANDARD.—With much reluctance and no small
disgust we are dragged back to the odious case of Mr.
Marsh and Mdlle. Niord, by a letter signed " George
H. Marsh," in the Morning Post of this day. We do
not know whether the paramour of the profligate in-
mate of Madame Lodon's establishment is cognisant
of the publication of this letter ; but if he is, the
publication of such an apology is an enormous aggra-
vation of his original crime. We feel that we
offend in giving insertion to such a letter, though,
commanded by the rule " audi alteram partem,'
but we shall not offend further by analysing it. The
writer speaks in a style of flippant levity, which proves
that he does not understand, probably is incapable of un-
derstanding, the question between his wretched name-
sake and the public. He argues as if the only consi-
deration were the punishment of Mademoiselle Niord's
paramour—about which nobody cares one farthing—
and not the relieving of the Church from an un-
worthy and disgraceful member, which interests every
Christian in the community. Whether the occasional—
only occasional visitor at Madame Lodon's," shall con-
tinue his visits to that establishment, as a munificent
contributor to its support and the support of its in-
mates, or die, as hundreds of better men die daily, in
a union workhouse, is a matter which concerns him
only ; but whether such a man, reeking from such
society, shall ascend a pulpit to address our wives and
daughters and sons, is a matter that deeply interests
us all. But, says Mr. Geo. H. Marsh, the man is a
penitent, and has actually discontinued his visits to
Madame Lodon's, substituting forsooth " visits to fa-
milies of the highest respectability of his acquaint-
ance." We do not envy the families, but this is
not repentance. Let him resign the station that
he has disgraced, and then he may be believed
penitent, but not till then. " Oh,' replies his
apologist, " to give up his living would throw
him on the world. It should be borne in
mind that a clergyman, deprived of his prefer-
ment, is debarred by his orders from every other
source of livelihood. This is a motive, certainly, for in-
creased circumspection in him, but also for some un-
willingness to proceed to extremity, except where the
offence is heinous, or the character of the party is irre-
claimable." An officer of the army or navy dismissed
for cowardice or drunkenness, offences venial compared
with Mr. Marsh's, has no other resource, and yet nobody
pities him ; a man who from incompetency fails at
the bar or in the medical profession, is as little the ob-
ject of compassion—people say the man took a line
for which he was not qualified. We regret his suffer-
ings, but the public service must not be betrayed—the
property or lives of the Queen's subject put in jeopardy,
in order to keep a man in a position for which
he is unfit. And is not the consideration much
more grave in the case of a scandalous clergyman ?
We will remark upon one other passage of Mr.
Marsh's letter, though we cannot remark upon it
without deep indignation: here it is:—" Are the Bishops
now accustomed to deal with cases of equal or greater
enormity when recent, and properly put before them,
with extreme severity? If not, is it right to yield to a
clamour, partly, at least, grounded on erroneous impres-
sions?" This is an insinuation that cases like that of
tion the rector
oactocrurorfeßncaer,ntachakn,
areof
which
no
ouisntosimnuaa can be more
customary, that is, of fre-
quentvilely false.
ADVERTISER.—The novelty of a Peer of the realm pre-
siding at a meeting-of the Anti-Corn-law League, in Covent-
garden Theatre, attracted last night an unusual number of
persons. With the exception of the evening on which Mr.
O'Connell made his anti-corn-law speech in that theatre, we
do not remember having seen in it a more numerous or re-
spectable audience. Lord Radnor opened the business of the
meeting in the plain practical manlier in which he is accus-
tomed to address the House of Lords. Ile never makes any
attempt to be eloquent. He has no ambition to play the
orator. That, in his apprehension—and in ours also—is the
best order of eloquence which, on a question like the corn-
laws, deals more with facts than with flowery sentences—
more with figures of arithmetic than with figures of speech.
And that is the right sort of oratory which, instead of pro-
ducing an effervescing enthusiasm—an enthusiasm which
dies away with the echoes of the speaker's voice—appeals to
the judgment of the audience, and makes an impression at
puce deep and lasting- 1e is the right and the real

orator, who, by the truthfulness of his statements, the evi-
dent sincerity of the seiatintents he avows, the justice
of his arguments, and the earnestness of his manner,
makes an impression on his auditors which they forth-
with embody in zealous endeavours to indoctrinate others
with the new notions• which they have themselves
imbibed. Such was the character of Lord Radnor's eloquence
—such the character of his oratory, when last night address-
ing the immense mass of human beings assembled within the
walls of Covent-garden Theatre. He made no effort at me-
retricious ornament—he had recourse to none of the clap-
trap expedients so common among the modern fry of third
and fourth-rate speakers. He fished not for cheers : if they
came, good and well; if they did not, no matter. He did not
address himself to the feelings—he appealed not to the pas-
sions of the congregated thousands before him. He sought
to enlighten the mind, to convince the judgment, and to pave
the way for every one who heard him becoming, in his own •
sphere, and to the extent of his ability, a practical perse-
vering opponent of all monopolies, but especially of the
monster monopoly in corn. • And what the Noble Chairman
aimed at achieving, his speech of last night will, no doubt,
accomplish. There must have been many persons in Covent-
garden Theatre who feel much more disposed and qualified
to enter the lists with the landed oligarchy, than they were
before they heard Lord Radnof a speech. It was a speech
remarkable alike for ite Tiffin and perspicuous statements,
its practical bearings, and its common-sense view of a
great and momentous, . and, to many minds, per-
plexing question. The manly manner in which the
Noble Lord identified himself with the objects and proceed-
ings of the League, and the triumphant vindication which he
made of that body from the charge of instigating incendia-
- rism and other crimes, preferred against it by Lord Hare-
wood, elicited one of the most tremendous bursts of applause
which ever greeted the ear of a public speaker. The Noble
Lord had the courage to proclaim, in the hearing of 5,000
persons, that the League are as incapable of encouraging or
sanctioning the crimes imputed to their instigation, as Lord
Harewood himself; and that such charges, coming though
they did from the lips of even a Peer of the realm, ought to be
treated with scorn and contempt. We are greatly mistaken
if Lord Harewood, after this full and fearless exposure of his
calumnies by a fellow Peer, his equal both in rank and moral
worth, be not more measured in his language in future. Mr.
Lattimore followed the Noble Lord. That gentleman's speech
derives importance from the fact of his being a tenant-farmer.
He disclaimed the assumption lately made by the Duke of
Richmond, that the farmers are in favour of-the corn-laws.
He maintained that where they are not coerced by the land-
lords, they are almost to a man in favour of immediate and
total repeal. How could it be otherwise? What inducement
can the tenant-farmer have to wish for a continuance of the
corn monopoly? It is notorious, that so far from being
benefited, they have been deeply injured—in many instances
entirely ruined—by the operation of the corn-laws.
The landlords alone are gainers by these laws. All
other classes, without exception, are plundered by
them. Mr. Hunt, also a tenant-farmer, and a member
of the Society of Friends, was the next speaker ; and
a more lucid or forcible exposition of the injustice and
iniquity of the bread monopoly, we have rarely heard. Mr.
Hunt tore in tatters the stereotyped monopolist argument
against the repeal of the corn-laws, that their abrogation
would throw the land out of cultivation, diminish the de-
mand for labour, and consequently reduce the wages of the
labourers. He proved, with unanswerable conclusiveness,
that corn-law repeal would be productive of the very oppo-
site effects. Were the corn monopoly once abolished, one of
the immediate and inevitable results would be, that no per-
son would embark his capital in agricultural pursuits except
on a long lease. Landlords would be consequently compelled
to grant long leases to their tenants; and the latter would
then have the requisite indutement to expend their capital,
not only in reclaiming waste - lands, but in improving the
system of farming. This would of necessity require an addi-
tional amount of labour, and the increased demand for labour
would, as a matter of course, be followed by an improved
rate of wages. Mr. Hunt,- we repeat, proved with a conclu-
siveness little short of absolute demonstration, that the
tenant-farmer and agricultural Tabourer, as well as the manu-
facturers and mechanics In large towns, would be largely
benefited by the total and immediate repeal of the corn-laws.
Mr. Cobden was the last speaker. His speech was one of the
most effective he ever made. But we have not space to
advert to it in detail, nor to make any further reference to
the proceedings of the evening.' Suffice it to say, that the
meeting of last night was in every respect one of the most
important of the series, and more calculated, perhaps, than
any other that could be named, to accelerate the doom of the
bread monopoly.
TIMES.—Sir Robert Peel's speech on Lord Ashley's
ameddment is a remarkable confirmation of certain fears
which we remember to have been felt for him a few years
back, in the most friendly quarters. For ten years—no
small period in the life of man—Sir Robert thought it politic
to hide his wisdom, and ;nee* bow his head in silence
under the storm of" Whig 'ascendancy. For ten years he
considered it his place to oppose, to bailie, to convict, to
qualify, but not to advise.- He had not been celled in. It
was not, therefore, his place to initiate. It was his duty to
speak only when spoken to—a rule of propriety applicable to
some classes, among whom Sir Robert appears to have
included the adult statesman. He stood by. The Whigs,
sash, blind, precipitate, rushed into the most desperate and
ridiculous scrapes. Siatobert looked on neither in sorrow
nor in anger. BroughTever and over again to " a dead fix"
by their own preposterous folly, they actually implored,
with more than speechless eloquence, the aid of some abler
practitioner. "Well,, whit do you advise? What would
you have done? What's : your plan ?" " It's your
place to consider all that, gentlemen," was his
only reply. " You possess all the sweets of office ;
you enjoy the confidence of the public patient; we watch
with some interest the treatment you are pursuing ' • and,
being a little concerned in the matter, will avail ourselves of
the right to interfere, when we see you carrying
.your
quackery too far; nor is it inconsistent with our views to instil
a general suspicion of your incompetency; but as for advice
and assistance, not a syllable shall you have. Let the suf-
ferer call us in, and then we will consider his case, and do
our best." Now, all this -mightbe politic. The result seems
to show that. The homoeopathic statesmen, who anticipated
revolt by rewarding sedition, were at last forced to retire,
and the old alteratives walked. in. But we most seriously
doubt the duty of this ParliaMentary silence ; and whatever
be the resalt to individuals; ilie.tesult to the nation is unfor-
tunate. The doctors don't appear to unlearn their silence.
They can't shake off their' acquired reserve. They still use
their eyes, and are very cleyer, and seem perfectly to under •
stand the case ; but they do *nothing. It is their fate still to
stand by. What is the present state of things ? A great social
disease calls for remedy. The symptoms are manifest. By this
time there 'can be no doubt about the remedy—a legislative
check. It has been tried on an inadequate scale for a consider.
able period, not indeed with perfect. success, but with suffi-
cient to justify a larger. and more careful application. The
remedy may, perhaps, be dangerous without a proper col-
lateral treatment ;but it is still the only remedy that meets
the case. It seems really a case, not for wisdom, but for de-
cision. But the Premier does nothing. At least what he
does is next to nothing. He won't be responsible, and looks
on while others act, offering only a sort of habitual resistance.
He may, perhaps, be the most sagacious statesman in the
House, but cannot conquer his via inertice—the trick of stand-
ing by, with his eyes about him, but his hands in his pockets.
There is every circumstance that can aggravate the almost
provoking folly of this course. The plan which Sir Robert
won't adopt, and leaves to anybody else who will, is his own
patrimony. Nobody in the whole world has so much right
to it as he. It is as much his own as Drayton Manor, and
his baronetcy. Old Sir Robert Peel, one of the most re-
markable men of his day, both-for his virtues and his talents,
after almost creating that great branch of manufacture, in
which, we believe, Mr. Cobden is now facile princeps, and after
procuring legislative protection for the apprentices, who were
then so generally employed, did all he Could to procure
the same protection for all, whoever might require protec-
tion ; for that was his rule. Thirty years since he proposed
the very plan which his son now endures to see in other hands
than his own ; though not being, like his son, the Premier,
he had the mortification of seeing it cut down below what lie
considered humanity and wisdom. On the present Sir Ro-
bert Peel's strong, natural, and personal claims to this noble
work of legislation, we need not observe. His speech on
Monday of itself is sufficient proof on that point. Tet his
own heirloom, his own official privilege, his own natural
right, he suffers another to seize from him. Strange to say,
the very considerations that encouraged the father terrify
the son. The father confesses 'himself " diffident of his own
abilities to originate legislatite measures ;" yet, finding that
his first Act in favour of parish apprentices has become a
dead letter, in consequence of the use of another class of la •
bour, he does not sit still, but goes further. In his memorial
given in our Tuesday's- coluMus he says :—" Gentlemen,
if parish apprentices were formerly deemed worthy
of the care of Parliament,. I trust you will not with •
hold from the unprotected children of the present day an equal
measure of mercy, as they have no masters who are obliged
to suport them in sickness, or during unfavourable periods of
trade." This apparent necessity of extending a rule of pro-
tection once admitted to any who may require it, which old
Sir Robert Peel, a man of the strongest practical sense, thus
gladly embraced, is treated by the son as a reason for not even
admitting the rule in the first instance, or at least not acting
on it, when we can without difficulty. He takes in his hands
the Report of the Children's Employment Commission, and
enumerates the manufactures to which the existing Factory
Acts, and the Bill now in Parliament, do not extend. Ife
expatiates on the miseries disclosed in that Report, miseries
which legislation does not at present attempt to mitigate.
" I can time the steam-engine," he adds, " and the larger
factories, but not every small workshop, every master, every
parent." What is this but a mere phantom of difficulty ?--
a mere sinking under the sense of the infinite,
when the finite is all we shall ever be really called
on to perform ? The present duty of the Legislature
is easy and obvious. There are large assemblages
employed in the same manufactories and in the same mills.
As it happens, these can be controlled. Their magnitude,
their place in the social system, constitutes a legislative
necessity. De minimis non curat lex. But the steam. engine
is, as it were, a fourth estate of the realm—a mighty foreign
power introduced ; it aggravates private into public evils, and
domestic into political. But, most happily, its very greatness,
which otherwise would make it intolerable, reduces it to
order. It can be timed. It cannot hide oppression intra
ann?ot
Abegainprotected,
is the r does
eno
parietes. Its size and power make it a public agent, and
bring it under public duty. But, after all, granting that
power
thatho ewr eerw
excuse
in will re
example
ums i
fromu l
? a rdgoleisnc classes sh, sver a
tvi whoc
continual cacn
sight of workpeople
laying aside their daily labour at six o clock of no effect ?
Do not the acts of the nation, as well as of individuals, help
to set the tone, and create a public conscience? This, too.
applies, by the way, to objections drawn from foreign coin.
petition. All nations, European and Transatlantic, complain,
and that most justly, that we have heretofore set an example
of excessive drudgery, which has tended to enslave the whole
civilised world. Lately, they have learned from us to miti-
gate this drudgery. Is it beyond all hope that they will
borrow our ten hours' time?

Three weeks ago a mare, belonging to Mr. Father-
stone, of Tibberton, was backed for ten sovereigns to trot
four miles in sixteen minutes. The animal was in the straw-
yard, and quite out of ctuniltioit at the time, but last week
she justified the coufidenge of her backers by trotting from
the Cross to the fburth mile‘stone on the Droitwich road
in fifteen minutes and a half, being half a minute under the
time,

THE BANK of ENGLAND and the
CURRENCY QUESTION.
The following remarks upon the late Mr. Harman
(one of the most active Directors of the Bank of
England during the late French war) are extracted
from the Banker's Circular, of the 16th February,
1844 :

" Having mentioned the name of Jeremiah Har •
man (who died last week, full of years and honour),
we cannot, for the sake of example, refrain from di-
recting reflection to the virtues of this eminent per-
son, which were as remarkable in his private as his
public station ; the latter only being within our
province to notice here. During that eventful and
critical period of our history which elapsed between
the years 1797 and 1818, Jeremiah Harman had
snore concern with the regulation of that vital func-
tion of our system—its money power—than any other
man : he exercised this, without emolument or titular
distinction, with a degree of foresight, circumspection,
prudence, and vigour, which, if there ever be an
historian capable of doing justice to human actions in"
the most important positions of life, will place his
name among the most estimable and illustrious of the
age in which he lived. What are the duties of a Lord
"Chancellor, with laws and precedents and a learned
bar to assist and guidellim, oompared witlfthose`d a
man who, in an extraordinary, difficult, and unprece-
dented conjuncture of affairs, is appointed to hold the
balance which determines whether the people, what-
ever the sacrifices demanded from them, shall prosper
or wither in their industry? What honour belongs
to that the highest subject of the realm, that is not
due to the balance-holder after he has performed his
duty discreetly, judiciously, and wisely? Where
would have stood the names of Peel and Arkwright
if a man of opposite character to Mr. Harman had
governed the affairs of the Bank when they were
struggling to acquire wealth and pour wealth into
the country ? They would have figured in the
Royal Gazette as bankrupts, instead of being re-
corded there with honourable titles. Where would
have been Wellington's victories and glory, if such a
man as that had not given vigour to the " sinews of
war ?" And let not us of the lower grades of the
commonalty ever forget that Mr. Harman was the
man who boldly stretched out his arm to avert that
fatal blow on his industrious countrymen—the Act
of 'l9; for he it was principally, we believe, who
composed and tendered that celebrated remonstrance
against the impending mischief with which the Act
of, 'l9 was charged, and which drew forth the
undignified sneers of Lords Grenville and Liverpool,
and Mr. Huskisson—presumptuous men, who dealt
with a case of which they were totally ignorant in
defiance and contempt of the remonstrance of those
who practically knew all. We here speak of Mr.
Harman as the last of the old school, with no desire
to detract from the merit of his colleagues and
coadjutors. We had no intercourse with him, and
have not had the pleasure of seeing his grave,
benevolent, and intelligent countenance, for ten years ;
but it would be wrong in a publication set up for the
purpose of giving warning of any danger which may
be seen approaching, in consequence of the disre-
gard of Mr. Harman's counsel, to omit this feeble
expression of our veneration for his character. He
was the brightest example of an independent high-
minded British merchant, as anxious for the success
of others as for his own, which ever appeared in our
path of life."
We subjoin a copy of the memorial of 1819, which
is alluded to in the above remarks as being princi-
pally composed by the late Mr. Harman. The man-
ner in which his fears and predictions have been
since realised, constitutes an imperishable monument
to his memory. " The universal interests of the em-
pire, in all the relations of agriculture, manufacture,
commerce, and revenue, have been ruinously compro-
mised, notwithstanding the prolonged state of peace
with which this nation has been blessed since that
period."

" The Directors of the Bank of England, having
taken into their most serious consideration the reports
of the Secret Committees of the two Houses of Parlia-
ment, appointed to inquire into the state of the Bank of
England, with reference to the expediency of the re-
sumption of cash payments at the period now fixed—
have thought it their duty to lay before his Majesty's
Ministers, as early as possible, their sentiments, with
regard to the measures suggested by these Committees
for the approbation of Parliament.
" In the first place it appears, that, in the view of the
Committees, the measure of the Bank recommencing
cash payments on the sth of July next, the time pre-
scribed
.by the existing law, ' is utterly impracticable,
and would be entirely inefficient, if not ruinous.'

" Secondly, it appears that the two Committees have
come to the it conclusion at a period, when the outstand-
ing notes of the Bank of England do not much exceed
25,000,0001. ; when the price of gold is about 4/. Is. per
ounce ; and when there is great distress, from the stag-
nation of commerce, and the fall of prices of imported
articles.

" It must be obvious to his Majesty's Ministers, that,
as long as such a state of things shall last, or one in any
degree similar, without either considerable improvement
on one side, or growing worse on the other, the Bank,
acting as it does at present, and keeping its issues nearly
at the present level, could not venture to return to cash
payments, with any probability of benefit to the public,
or safety to the establishment.
" The two Committees of Parliament, apparently ac-
tuated•by this consideration, have advised that the Bank
shall not open payments in coin for a period of four
years, but shall be obliged, from the Ist of May, 1821, to
discharge their notes in standard gold bullion, at Mint
price, when demanded in sums not amounting to less
than thirty ounces. And, as it appears to the Commit-
tees expedient, that this return to payments at Mintprice
should be made gradually, they propose that on the Ist
day of February next, the Bank should pay their notes
in bullion, if demanded in sums not less than sixty
ounces, at the rate of 4Z Is. an ounce, and from the Ist
of October, 1820, to the Ist of May following, at 3L 19s.
6d. an ounce.

" If the Directors of the Bank have a true compre-
hension of the views of the Committees in submitting
this scheme to Parliament, they are obliged to infer, that
the object of the Committees is to secure, at every ha-
zard, and under every possible variation of circum-
stances, the return of payments in gold at Mint price for
Bank notes, at the expiration of two years ; and that
this measure is so to be managed, that the Mint price
denominations shall ever afterwards be preserved, leaving
the market or exchange price of gold to be controlled
by the Bank, solely by the amount of their issues of
notes.

" It further appears to the Directors, with regard to
the final execution of this plan, and the payment of Bank
notes in gold .at Mint price, that discretionary power is
to be taken away from the Bank ; and that it is merely
to regulate its issues, and make purchases of gold, so as
to be enabled to answer all possible demands, whenever
its treasury shall be again open for the payment of its
notes.

" Under these impressions, the Directors of the Bank
think it right to observe to his Majesty's Ministers,
that being engaged to pay on demand their notes in sta-
tutable coin, at the Mint price of 31. 17s. 10Id. an ounce,
they ought to be the last persons who should object to
any measure calculated to effect that end ; but as it is
incumbent on them to consider the effect of any mea-
sure to be adopted, as operating upon the general issue
of their notes, by which all the private banks are regu-
lated, and of which the whole currency, exclusive of the
notes of private bankers, is composed, they feel them-
selves obliged, by the new situation in which they have
been placed by the Restriction Act of 1797, to bear in
mind not less their duties to the community at large,
whose interest in a pecuniary and commercial relation,
have in a great degree been confined to their discretion.
" The Directors being thus obliged to extend their
views, and embrace the interest
of the whole commu-
nity, in their consideration of this measure, cannot but
feel a repugnance, however involuntary, to pledge them-
selves in approbation of a system, which in their opi-
nion, in all its great tendencies and operations, concerns
the country in general more than the immediate inte-
rests of the Bank alone.
" It is not certainly a part of the regular duty of the
Bank, under its original institution, to enter into the
itttohe Parliament,proince o
general views of policy by which this great empire is
of
thde toßatnkke
to com
exinunnitdY
to be governed in all its commercial and pecuniary
transactions, which exclusively belong to the Adminis
tr-
prin-
ciples by which these views ought to be regulated. Its
peculiar and appropriate duty is the management of the
concerns of the banking establishment, as connected
with the payment of the interest of the national debt,
puo tahte largeno artr;
the lodgments consigned to its care, and the ordinary
advances it has been accustomed to make to Govern-
ment.
" But when the Directors are now to be called upon,
in the new situation in which they are placed by the
Restriction Act, to procure a fund for supporting the
whole national currency, either in bullion or in coin,
and when it is proposed that they should effect this
measure within a given period, by regulating the mar-
ket price of gold by a limitation of the amount of the
issue of Bank notes, with:whatever distress such limita-
tion may be attended to individuals, or the community
at large, they feel it their bounden and imperious duty
to state their sentiments thus explicity, in the first in-
stance, to his Majesty's Ministers on this subject, that a
tacit consent and concurrence at this juncture may not,
at some future period, be construed into a previous im-
plied sanction on their part, of a system, which they
cannot but consider fraught with very great uncertainty
and risk.

" It it impossible for them to decide beforehand what

Shall be the eours.e of Omits for the neat two, much
less for the next four years ; they have no right to
hazard a flattering conjecture, for which then:have not
real grounds, in which they may ,be disappointed,
and for which they may be considered • respon-
sible. They cannot venture to advise an unrelenting;
Continuance of pecuniary pressures upon the commer-
cial world, of which it- is impossible for them either _to
foresee or estimate the consequences.
" The Directors have already submitted to the House
of Lords the expediency of the Bank paying its notes
in bullion at the market price of the day, with a view of
seeing how far favourable commercial balances may
operate in restoring the former order of things, of which
they might' take an advantage ; and with a similar
view they have proposed, that Government should repay
the Bank a considerable part of the sums that have been
advanced upon Exchequer-bills.
" These two measures would allow time for a correct
judgment to be formed upon the state of the bullion
market, and upon the real result of those changes, which
the late war may have produced, in all its conse-
quences, of increased public debt, increased taxes, in
creased prices, and altered relations, as to interest, Fa-
' ital, and commercial dealings with the Continent ; and
how far the alterations thus produced are temporary, or
permanent ; and to what extent, and -in what degree,
they operate.
" It was the design of the Directors, in pursuance of
the before-mentioned two measures, to take advantage of
every circumstance which could enable the Bank to ex-
tend its purchases of bullion, as far as a legitimate con-
sideration of the ordinary wants of the nation, for a
sufficient currency, could possibly warrant. Beyond
this point, they do not consider themselves justified
in going, upon any opinion, conjecture,, pi. speculation,
merely their own ; and, when a system is recom-
mended, which seems to take away from the Bank
anything like a discretionary consideration of the ne-
cessities and distresses of the commercial world ; if the
Directors withhold their previous consent, it is not
from a want of deference to his Majesty's Government,
or to the opinions of the Committees of the two
Houses-of-Parliament, but solely from a serious feeling
that they have no right whatever to invest themselves, of
their own accord, with the responsibility of counten-
ancing a Measure, in which the whole community' is so
deeply involved ; and possibly to compromise the universal
interests of the empire, in all the relations of agriculture,
manufacture, commerce, and revenue, by a seeming ac-
quiescence, or declared approbation' on the part of the
Directors of the Bank of England.
" The consideration of these great questions, and of
the degrees in which all these leading and commanding
interests may. be affected by the measure proposed, rests
with the. Legislature ; and it is for them, after solemn
deliberation, and not for the Bank, to determine and de-
cide upon the course to be adopted.
" Whatever reflections may have from time to time
been cast upon the Bank, whatever invidious represen-
tations of its conduct may have been made, the cautious
conduct it adopted, in so measuring the amount of cur-
rency, as to make it adequate to the wants both of the
nation and of the Government ; at the same time
keeping it within reasonable bounds, when compared
with what existed before the war, as is shown in the
Lords' Reports, pages 10, 11, 12, and 13 ; the recent
effort to return to a system of cash payments, which
commenced with the fairest prospects (but which was
afterwards frustrated by events which could not be fore-
seen nor controlled by the Bank), are of themselves
a sufficient refutation of all the obloquy, which has
been so undeservedly heaped upon the establishment.
" The Directors of the Bank of England, in sub-
mitting these considerations to his Majesty's Ministers,
request that they may be allowed to assure them, that
it is always their anxious desire, as far as depends upon
them, to aid, by every consistent means, the measures of
the Legislature, for furthering the prosperity of the
empire. " ROBERT BEST, Secretary."

DEATH OF LORD LONSDALE.
(From the Times.)

It is with unfeigned regret that we announce the death of
the venerable Earl of Lonsdale, who expired at his residence,
York House, Twickenham, in the 87th year of his age, on
Tuesday, the 19th inst., at a quarter to seven P.M.
The Noble Earl had, during several weeks past, suffered
severely from three separate attacks of illness, the effects of
which were happily averted by surgical skill and the unre-
mitting assiduity of those around him, and his health and
spirits were recovering their usual elasticity, when on Satur-
day last his Lordship was seized with the prevailing influenza
(which is more than ordinarily violent in the vicinity of
Richmond), and which excited so much alarm in the mind of
Mr. Bolton (his consulting surgeon) as to induce that gentle-
man to call in the additional assistance of Dr. Chambers,
who remained in attendanee upon the late Earl up to the day
of his decease. Some flattering symptoms displayed them-
selves on Monday, but on Tuesday afternoon every favour-
able expectation had vanished, and the venerable Earl sank
under the effects of the malady that had attacked him ; the
progress of death being, however, so gentle and gradual, that
the moment at which he expiredwas scarcely perceptible.
It is worthy of notice that the demise of the Earl of Lone-
dale was preceded only by a short period by that of his
friend and former coadjutor, the late Viscount Sidmouth,
whose decease (so great was the care and solicitude of those
who surrounded him) never was communicated to their aged
chief; fearful lest so mournful an event should retard his re-
covery or operate injuriously on his spirits.
The Right Hon. William Lowther, first Earl of Lonsdale,
had been for some years the oldest Member of the House of
Lords with the exception of the Archbishop of York. Lord
Lonsdale was _born on the 29th of December, 1757, and had
therefore entered the 87th year of his age, while the Arch-
bishop of York was one month his senior, and still continues
to be the oldest of the spiritual and temporal Peers. The
Earldom which Lord Lonsdale enjoyed is one of recent crea-
tion, but the family from which he descended is of great an-
tiquity, and have long been settled in the counties of West-
moreland and Cumberland, having been seated at Lowther
Castle before the date of anything like authentic records. The
family appears to have been ofknightly rank before the age of
Queen Elizabeth, in the 30th year of whose reign Sir Richard
Lowther was High SheriffofCumberland. The first Baronet was
Sir John Lowther, who received his patent in 1640, and the
first Viscount received his title in the year 1696 ; but the
Viscounty became extinct in the year 1750, while the
Baronetcy devolved upon a collateral relative, Sir James
Lowther, who in the year 1784 was created Earl of Lonsdale
and Viscount Lowther. He died without male issue, and
the Earldom became extinct; but before his death he ob-
tained a patent, granting the Viscounty in remainder to the
heirs male of his cousin, the Rev. Sir William Lowther, of
Swillington, from whom the present line descends. In the
year 1807 the Peer just deceased was advanced to the rank
of an Earl, and the present Postmaster-General, his son and
successor, is therefore, the second Earl of that line.
The late Peer was the eldest son of the Rev. Sir W. Low-
ther, of Little Preston and of Swillington, by the daughter of
the Rev. C. Zouch, vicar of Sandal, in the county of York ;
he is, therefore, brother to Sir J. Lowther, of Swillington,
who was created a Baronet in 1824. The Noble Lord who
is the subject of this notice married, on the 12th of July,
1781, the Lady Augusta Fane, daughter of John, ninth Earl
of Westmorland, by whom he had two sons and four
daughters. His Lordship succeeded to the dignities of
Viscount and Baron Lowther on the death. of his kins-
man, the late Earl of Lonsdale; but, as already stated,
the Earldoin was not in remainder to him. As to
his Baronetcy, he inherited that upon the death of his father,
in 1788. Possessing great Parliamentary influence, and
being a warm supporter of the Government, he was advadeed
to the dignity of an Earl on the 7th of April, 1807, and in
the same year was chosen a Knight of the Garter. He like-
wise held the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army, and
that of Lord-Lieutenant of the counties of Cumberland and
Westmoreland.

From the earliest period of the public life of Mr. Pitt,
Lord Lonsdale was one of his most earnest supporters. Mr.
Pitt's first seat in Parliament was for the borough of Apple-
by—a place quite under the influence of the Lowther family.
After the death of that great man, Lord Elden was the leader
to whom the deceased Earl steadily adhered. Till the period
which elapsed between the years 1818 and 1826, the political
feeling of the county of Westmoreland had been but little
called forth. It was during that time, however, roused to a
pitch of high excitement by the endeavours of Mr. (now
Lord) Brougham to participate in its representation with one
of Lord Lonsdale's sons. For eight years, the contest could
scarcely be said to have slept, and three successive elections
displayed the obstinate perseverance of Mr. Brougham and
the successful resistance of the Lowther family. In 1818. and
1820, the majorities by which Lord Lowther and his brother
were returned to Parliament could not have been regarded
as considerable ; but in 1826, Mr. Brougham was so deci-
sively vanquished, the majority against him being 647, that
he did not again solicit the suffrages of that county.
Lord Lonsdale was a man remarkably popular amongst
his neighbouis and friends. He was through life, in some
degree, a patron of literature—if any nobleman can be said
to share that honour with the only patrons of modern times
—the reading public. A friendship, however, subsisted be-
tween his Lordship and Mr. Wordsworth, which is alike
honourable to the Peer and poet. The " Excursion" is dedi-
cated to the Earl in one of Wordsworth's best sonnets.
The Earldom devolves upon his eldest son, long known as
Lord Lowther, who was raised to the Upper House during
his father's lifetime, in September, 1841, when the present
Ministry was organised, and the office of Postmaster-U.616d
conferred on the heir of the house of Lowther. Lord Lowther
is unmarried, and in the 57th year of his age. Should he die
without issue, Colonel Lowther, the Member for Westmore-
land, will be his successor.

THE STORM IN AYRSHIRE.--Early on the morn-
ing of Saturday last, one of the most fearful storms raged
around Kilmarnock which the memory of that sagacious
carle, "the oldest inhabitant," enables him to recal from
his youth upward. As the day advanced the storm deepened
into the utmost pitch of hurricane fury. The gusts which
roared in hollows were alike stunning from their noise and
violence; the woods resembled an army making war upon
itself; branches were lopped in pruning-knife fashion, torn,
twisted, and whirled through the air, and echoes awakened
in hidden recesses, so clamorous that they seemed to be
" sympathisers" with the Spirit of the Storm. Little chil-
dren in venturing abroad, were in many instances toppled
head over heels, and even adults, taxing their energies to
the uttermost, were in danger of sharing the same fate. Cans
were dashed from chimney-tops, roofs at least partially
tirled, and thatch coverings grievously disturbed, if, not
blown bodily away. In the west end of the town, two
stately beeches were prostrated, that had withstoodi the
blasts of many a winter, shrubberies greatly injured, and
the architectural ornaments on villas grievously defaced.
But the strangest arrival of all, was the arrival, at the ter-
minus of the Glasgow and Ayr Railway, of a truck used in
the transmission of goods, driven by the wind at the rate of
seventy miles an hour. In approaching the depot it split
the huge pillars of the gate, and would have done otherwise
much mischief, had not its career been stayed by the buffers
—DumfriesiCourier.
SUICIDE OF A RETIRED TRADESMAN.—Mr. Carter,
the Coroner, held an inquest on Wednesday, at the Lord Nelson
Inn, Old Kent-road, as to the death of Mr. James Pummell,
aged 65, formerly the well-known fishmonger adjoining the
Bricklayers' Arms, who committed suicide under very me-
lancholy circumstances. The deceased had for a number of
years been the proprietor of the shop alluded to, where he
amassed a good fortune. A few years ago he retired from
trade in favour of his son, and went to reside at the house of
Mr. Davis, 11, Thirza-place, Old Kent-road. He usually
went to his former residence daily,. but had always, of late,
been very low-spirited, chiefly arising, as his son stated, from
the works carrying on in the Upper Grange-road, Bermond-
sey, in connexion with the new line of Dover Railway, where
he had some houses, and which he believed would cause his
ruin. On Saturday he was at his old shop about throe
o'clock, and was more than usually depressed in mind when
he went home. At half-past six the deceased was found
hanging by a slight cord to the bedstead, and when cut doffs
he was quite dead. Verdict—" Temporary Insanity."