The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-18 00:00:00

BANKING AFFAIRS.

The private country bankers and deputies of joint-stock
banks have had meetings to sonsider the Government plan
for the reform of our monetary system. Their deliberations
have not been open to the press, but we believe that their
chief efforts will be made to induce the Premier to give
them a higher average than they would receive were he to
abide by the amount of the average of issues for the last two
years as a rule to fix their maximum of circulation for the
ten years next to come. To accomplish that object, they will
probably endeavour to maintain an extension of the term of
years in which the averages are to be calculated. During the

year 1839 the issues of the private banks were in no month
returned at less than 6,680,000/., nor in year 1840 lower than
6,165,000/. The lowest return of the joint-stock banks, in
1839, was 3,945,9071., and in 1840, 3,542,510/. In December,
1841, the issues of the private banks had fallen off to
5,718,2111., and those of the joint-stock to 3,217,8121. In
December, 1842, the circulation of the private banks was only
5,085,8851., and that of the joint-stock banks 3,001,5901.
In December, 1843, the issues of the
.private banks had dimi •
nished to 4,533,0481., and the joint-stock banks were
3,161,033/. For the four weeks ending the 27th of April
last, the circulation of the private banks again shows a ten-
dency to increase, being stated at 5,295,2391., and that of the
joint-stock banks at 3,752,867 ; but comparing these last re-
turns with those of the similar month in .1839, there is a de-
crease in the issues of private banks amounting to
2,386,971/., and in joint-stock banks of 1,101,229/. Some of
the large joint-stock banks of issue have taken over the busi-
ness lately of private banks, allowing them a sum for the good-
will of their promissory notes in circulation. These transactions
will be struck at by the operation of the new scheme, by
preventing such joint-stock banks substituting their own
paper for that of the private establishment whose business
they had agreed for. The joint-stock banks will endea-
vour to obtain special sanction for issuing their notes, to
enable them to complete these contracts without loss; and
both private and joint-stock banks will endeavour to make
out a difficulty against the working of the measure,
in the event of an increase of trade and an enlarged popula-
tion demanding additional facilities for the development of
capital, and for of additional banking accommodation.
As the Bank of England is limited to 14,000,000/. of issue
on securities, and the country banks to a declared maxi-
mum, it is held by the parties interested in preserving
freedom of creating paper money, that the notes to be
given out, in exchange for bullion, will not be adequate to
supply the country with the needful amount of currency to
carry on the operations of a large extent of trade, and that a
heavy pressure will be felt, and a scarcity of money, with
falling prices, when the new scheme is ix operation. The dis-
turbing influence of the new tariff, and the dulness in trade
which it occasioned, causing a glut in the Money Market, will
no doubt be alluded to. The great increase to the deposits of
the banks should not be forgotten, occasioned by the abundance
of money which has prevailed during the last twelve
months ; and the means which the banks will possess
of affording accommodation from that source, as banks of
discount and deposit, exclusive of their issues, must not be
•verlooked. The objections of the banking interests above
noticed are confined chiefly to details, on which they are
entitled to be heard, and any suggestions which they may
make, tending to facilitate the working of the scheme and
to remove or lessen their own complaints against it, will no
doubt receive attention in the proper quarter, so far as may
be consistent with the preservation of its principle and effi-
cacy.—Chronicle.

THE. TEN HOURS' BILL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Having been a constant reader of your journal
ever since the present Ministers came into office,
and a close watcher of your straightforward con-
duct in defence of the labouring class, sorry am
I to see you support Lord Ashley's Bill in the
manner which you do. Could I but have you linked
to my side for one single week ! I enter the factory at
six in the morning, allowed for breakfast half-an-hour,
for dinner three•duarters, f►r tea half-an-hour, and
leave work at eight o'clock ; and I must say I should be
sorry were I compelled to leave off sooner or to work
later ; and no persons enjoy life better than myself and
fellow-workmen. The firm for which I work is the
most extensive in this district, and turns out the very
finest woolen cloths ; and were there a reduction of the
hours of labour the employed and employers would fare
much worse. I can safely say the orgy happy hours I
spend are in the fact,ry, and reading your journal. If
you were with me a week you would think otherwise.
I am yours respectfully, J. T.
Huddersfield, May 16, 1844.
P.S. I have worked in a factory fifteen years, and not
had a day's sickness.

THE PRINCETON CALAMITY.
(From the New York Evening Post.)
The terrible catastrophe of the Princeton, with which
the public mind is at this moment so deeply impressed,
is one of those occasions which should be seized to
grave in with the deep impression something. good. Such
visitations are not sent us by chance, and though I am
not one of those interpreters who are constantly fritter-
inglb
eceann ngoi tv
ehne rtehmeaprke
oi npgl
ehwe tllivaatnat
eddr eoande:
down God's providence into a series of petty con-
to
ho
ft
ur
lessoncon-
trivances, e e s, yetla s
and at the time when they wanted it most. Those legis-
lators whose vapouring speeches about Oregon have
been uttered at the hazard, and apparently with a wish
to produce a war, never dreamed, probably, that the path
of carnage would come near them; they thought of po-
pularity and applause, and votes to be acquired; and
never thought at all of the bloody quarter-deck, the
groans of the dying, and the wail of the widow and
orphan. They have never seen and heard these things,
and when they raise their voices again to invoke a war,
let them bear in mind that they are invoking a thousand
repetitions, or ten, or twenty thousand, of the tragedy of
the Princeton—not among their friends and intimates,
perhaps, but among men whose blood is as red, whose
pangsre darecpendent,
as real, whose wives and children as dear, and
m
and whose souls, too, are as precious
o
before God. How many hearts do you suppose are now
throbbing with anguishing suspense till the names are
known of those six sailors who were joined in this
calamity. To-morrow's news will tell them, bringing
relief to many, but desolation to a few. Here is the
matter to reflect upon; the dead can be buried and com-
mended to Heaven's mercy, and then our minds natu-
rally find repose; but we must give more thought to the
living. Consider deeply, and realise, if you can, the
sufferings that women and children must endure; and
ask if the man has the heart of a man who would not
hate the light if he had wittingly had any share in bring-
ing such evils upon the earth. Not but that we must
fight in case of need, for it is unhappily but too much
proved that passive submission leads to greater evils than
resistance; but we should first of all resist the devil,
who paints war to us in gaudy colours, and inspires mob
orators with insane common-places about glory. Be-
fore we begin to destroy human life with gunpowder, we
must fight the war- demon, the war-spirit; we must make
war on the causes of war; we must exert ourselves as
for life and death, to resist, obviate, or elude its possi-
bility, trample out its sparks, and silence its exciters.
But if all honourable means fail, and the dogs of war
must be let loose, then probably it will be found they
owe their horrid feast to these exciters who are now so
ready to be their jackals. Think of the Princeton, and
you will know what to think of them.

TODMORDEN.—At the sessions, on Thursday, a
young man, named James Greenwood. of Sowerby, was
charged with disgraceful conduct in a Wesleyan chapel,
at Cragdale, and with assaulting a parish constable.
It appeared from the evidence, that on Sunday last, the
defendant, in company with ti man, named Farrow,eitered
the above chapel intoxicated, and created a great dis-
turbance. On the Rev. Mr. Fairbourn, the minister,
rerronstrating with them, they pushed him about, and
used violent language. Their conduct was so disgrace-
ful, that he left the chapel, and went to the house
of the pariah constable, who, it appeared, was unable to
protect him. Several of the congregation requested
them to withdraw, and Farrow, who was the most
violent, refused, declaring that the minister had invited
them in, and they should stop. A member stated
to the bench, that the constable was afraid of the par-
ties. After much difficulty, they were ejected, and
tiiken into custody, hut made their escape. The bench
was surprised that the constable should allow the
prisoners to escape, and asked where his handcuffs
were and his baton of office. They would recommend
him to go into the county constabulary, under the
training of Mr. Fowler, for three months.—The con-
stable said, he had not done much business, and did not
like to over-run himself ; he was a man of peace.--The
bench asked if there was a pair of stocks in Cragdale ;
if so, they would certainly order the defendant to be
put in them. A more disgraceful case never came
before them.—The overseer stated that there was none.
The bench convicted the defendant in ss. and costs, and
granted a warrant for the apprehension of Farrow, but
refused to give it to the constable who had acted in so
cowardly a manner.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS.—It is a common idea that the
most laconic military dispatch ever issued was that sent by
Cesar to the Horse Guards at Rome, containing the three
memorable words, " Veni, vidi, vici ;" and, perhaps, until
our own day, no like instance of brevity has been found. The
dispatch of-Sir Charles Napier, after the capture of Sinde, to
Lord Ellenborough, both for brevity and truth, is, however,
far beyond it. The dispatch consisted of one emphatic word—
" Peccavi," " I have Sinde" (sinned).—Punch.
BEATING THE PARISH BOUNDARIES.—Thursday
being Holy Thursday, or Ascension-day, the charity
children of the
.various parishes throughout the metro-
polis, headed by the churchwardens and other parochial
officers, made the usual annual perambulation to beat the
bounds of each parish. The ceremony forms a day of
recreation both to the parish officers and the children.
THE MARCH OF INTELLECT.—AII inhabitant of
the village of Hay-ay, two leagues from Mons, in Belgium,
was committed to prison a few days ago at the latter place,
on a charge of having killed a woman whom he suspected of
being a witch.