The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-16 00:00:00

G, JANUAR V 16, 1844.

of a Military Knight of Windsor upon the death of
Captain J. J. Cummin, in June last, has been appointed
to the Governorship, in the room of the late Captain
Fernvhough. Captain Moore entered the 69th in 1800;
obtained his Licutenantcy the following year ; was ap-
pointed to a Captaincy in 1811 ; and retired upon half-
pay at the close of the war in 1815. The new Go-
vernor being the junior Knight the appointment has
been the cause of surprise and disappointment to many
of his seniors.

THE CURRENCY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—lt may possibly be correct, as you state, that I
am not able to find out when I am beaten. Napoleon
brought a similar charge against the English army at
Waterloo. lam willing to take my full share of this
national obtuseness; but I hope you will allow me to
suggest that it is possible that a small portion of it may
attach also to yourself. The current circulation of bills
of exchange must certainly have been a little older than
the reign of Charles 11. ; for I find that James 1., in
1611, appointed a Committee to inquire into the causes
of the exportation of gold and silver money, and that the
Committee reported that one of the causes was the use of
bills of exchange.
But I am well content to leave these questions of legal
erudition, concerning the ancient circulation of ac-
knowledgments of debt, upon the footing on which you
have placed them. 'Whether the circulation of such in-
struments has existed only from the reign of Charles 11.,
or in the more remote periods of our history, when mo-
netary debts themselves were only of a trifling amount,
is a question of very little importance, when compared
with the present state of things, in which nearly all the
complicated and innumerable transactions of life
are effected through the agency of monetary debts,
and when the transfer and exchange of acknowledg-
ments of debt for each other has literally become
vital to the existence of society among us. I would
say to you, as I said to Mr. Cobbett in my letter pub-
lished 21 years ago, " Let us leave the dry bones of our
ancestors to moulder amidst the errors and the crimes,
the effects of which have long since passed away, and let
us take care that the present generation of living men is
not precipitated to an early tomb, by measures which
are far more unjust and infinitely more ruinous than any
which the maddest of tyrants have ever attempted or de-
vised before."
In your journal of the 4th instant you are pleased to
use a very harsh, and not very gentlemanly term, as
applicable to any future reduction of the standard of
value. The old proverb of "glass houses" should not
be forgotten. The charge of " rascality" should not
be preferred upon light or unjust grounds. Surely,
you do not mean that the 4 per cent. juggle of
1819 is to be made permently a cent. per cent.
fraud upon the people ? The means of the people are cut
down to the metallic level ; are their burdens to be kept up
at the paper level ? The late Lord Liverpool told the
House of Lords that their rents had been doubled and
trebled in paper money. The national debt had been
quadrupled. All the taxes, salaries, and expenses of the
Government, including the pay of the soldiers, have
been doubled. Under these doubled oppressions, and
under the paralysis of industry consequent upon the con-
traction of the circulating system, the people are crushed
down into worse than Egyptian slavery. Mr. Cobbett's
prophecy, that " without an equitable adjustment,
2,000,000 of men would die of hunger before the pre-
sent standard of value could be carried into full effect,"
is at this very moment being literally fulfilled. Is
there to be HO limit to human cruelty on the one side, or
to human endurance on the other ? Let us not deceive
ourselves. This giant fraud is too terrible, and too
mortal to be successful. 'When the dire agony of the
people shall have carried a free trade in corn, which it
certainly will do, how long, do you think, it will then be
before free trade is carried also in sugar, coffee, tea,
tobacco, and in all the other articles the restrictions
upon which now provide the revenue by which the
national debt is supported ? I can tell you. Under
our present monetary system, just six months.
Then the national debt comes suddenly tumbling
upon our heads. This terrible catastrophe has been
postponed for many years, by all manner of tamperings,
tricks, and contrivances, which are now drawing to an
end. Under our present system we may now almost
count the months which precede the breaking up of the
tremendous debacle. Something must be done to arrest
this mortal ruin. 'What then is best for the fund-
owners and tax-receivers?—to cut down the standard of
value, and thereby to secure safety, justice, prosperity,
and contentment to them and to all classes? or to reduce
the monetary burdens of the people correspondently with
the reduction of their monetary means? or to leave the
fundowners and landowners, tax-receivers and tax-
payers, to perish all under one common ruin? Un-
doubtedly, the first of these operations is the easiest and
the best for all classes. Perhaps you think, that the
confiscation of the land will save the national debt.
Vain hope. The landowners have yet the main political
power of the State in their own hands. They will all
become free traders in their own defence; and the mort-
gagees, a most formidable body of men, will most cer-
tainly throw their weight into the landowners' scale.
Be assured, Sir, that if the Jews and lawyers persist
in demanding payment of their " Jewish bond" in a
quarter of an ounce of gold for every pound sterling of
English tax, rent, debt, and obligation, there is but one
way in which nature will allow them to enforce it with-

out bringing down ruin upon their own heads. They
must substitute totally the use of paper-money in the
place of gold and silver coin in England; and they
must prevail upon France and America to act upon a
similar policy. By these means only can they occasion
such a depreciation in the value of gold and silver
throughout Europe as will enable them to keep down
the market prices of gold and silver at their present
level, whilst all other prices rise to that remunerating
level which is absolutely necessary to the prosperity of
industry, and to the very existence of society in England.
Paper money has carried our country through many a
trying scene. With wisdom, fortitude, and justice at
our head, it may yet carry us through a more formidable
scene that has ever yet presented itself in the history of
England before.—l am respectfully, Sir, your obedient
humble servant, THOMAS ATTWOOD.
Birmingham, Jan. 9.

CURRENCY-T.HE SILVER COIN.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Two articles have appeared in The Sun re-
lative to the wonderful profit that would arise by
parties purchasing silver bullion at 60s. per pound
troy, and having this weight coined into 665. One
article appeared on the 21st ult. ; the other on the
13th inst. The gentleman to whom you are in-
debted for those articles will very much oblige me by
favouring me with the date of the Royal Procla-
mation, authorising the public to demand the coinage
of silver bullion at the Mint; and if he can produce
such proclamation he will further oblige by stating
the authority by which parties can demand of the
master of the Mint 665. for each pound weight of
silver bullion delivered at the Mint for coinage. I
have in vain endeavoured to trace the proclamation
to which I have referred. If the public has a right
to demand the coinage of silver bullion at the Mint
at this time, I consider I have reasonable cause to
consider that such a proclamation must be in ex-
istence, as I find the following enactments in the
56 Geo. 111., cap. 68, sections 9 and 10 :—" From
and after such day as shall be appointed by any
proclamation issued by his Majesty, with the advice
of his Privy Council, it shall be lawful for any person,
native or foreigner, to bring any foreign coin or
reputed coin, plate or bullion of silver in mass,
molten or alloyed, or any manufacture of silver, and
to deliver the same at the Mint in London, to be
there melted down and coined into current silver
coins of this kingdom ; and such silver so bought shall
be assayed, and melted down and coined into silver
coins of a standard of eleven ounces, two penny-
weights of fine silver, and eighteen pennyweights of
alloy in the pound troy, and in weight after the rate
of 665. to every pound troy, whether coined in
crowns, half-crowns, shillings, or sixpences, or pieces
of a lower denomination ; and as soon as may be
after such silver shall be melted and assayed,
there shall be delivered to the person bringing the
same a sum in silver coins, after the rate of 625. of the
standard fineness before-mentioned for every pound of
troy; and for the diminution and charge for assaying,
coinage, and waste of all such silver so brought to the
Mint, there may be retained at the Mint 4s. for every
pound troy brought in, making in the whole after the
rate of 665. for every pound troy."—Section 9.
" Such sums of 4s. per pound shall be applied to
the expense of coinage, and the surplus, if any, car-
ried to the consolidated fund."—Section 10.

If I am not " mistaken," I guess that the withhold-
ing 4s. out of every 665. by the Master of the Mint,
would tend to reduce the profit of 101., which your
correspondent states would arise from the operation he
has described, and that the buying up all the gold coin
and gold bullion, with the silver coin, is not quite so
easy a job as he imagines.
Is it that I or he is " mistaken ?"—Your's, &c.
Ilfracombe, Jan. 15, 1844. GORDIUS.

BEIRNIARD AND « A STANDARD
OF VALUE."
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. _ _

SlR,—Your Correspondent Beirniard, in your's of
the 13th inst., has intended so ably to describe a
standard of value, that it is a great pity that it should
have been confused—the little word " if," never was,
I am certain, intended by him to have been in the
place it is ; he either omitted to have erased it in his
M.S., or it is a typographical error.
Beirniard's definition of a standard of value cannot
be quoted too often ; therefore, perhaps you will allow
me to do so, marking the word " if,' in a parenthesis.
" The fundamental original sin' which lies at the

iase of all currency theories (of the usual school) is the
mystification about a standard of value,' there is no
such standard (if) it means some thing which will
always command the same amount of other things
which men consider valuable."

I fully agree with Beirniard, that not only is there
no such standard, but that there never was, nor ever
will be,—when the alchymist discovers the philoso-
pher's stone, and the mechanic perpetual motion, then
may the monetarian hope to find " a standard of
value."—Your's, &c. G ORDIUS.
Ilfracombe, Jan. 15, 1844.

General Jackson is in very infirm health. He
never loaves his room, and is emaciated to mere skin and
bone. He has a severe cough, and pain in the back
and side, but his voice and intellect appear unaffected,
and the lightning fire of former years yet flashes in his
eyee..4.ttieriC“?! Kw.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—In my letter to you of the 10th inst., there
are some errors in the figures which I wish to correct.
For 51. read 51. 11 s.
For 228 grains read 204 grains.
For 600 grains read 684 grains.
Jan. 15, 1844. A WORKING MAN.

THE BIRMINGHAM BLACK-HOLE.
At the close of the Borough sessions, at Birming-
ham, on Saturday, two men, named James Smith
and John Taylor, were placed in the dock to answer
a charge of assault upon police-constable Buckerfield.
Mr. Mellor appeared for the prosecution, and stated
the case. The Learned Gentleman said he had to
request the attention of the Court and jury to that
case, which was instituted by the superintendent of
police for the protection of his officers, one of whom,
the complainant, Buckerfield, had been grossly as.
saulted on the 25th of December, whilst in the execu-
tion of his duty, under the following circumstances :
It appeared that on that day Buckerfield was sent to
quell some disturbance in a place in this town, which,
from all he could hear, was a disgrace, not only to the
town of Birmingham, but would be a disgrace to any
country or to any age. It was called a prison, con-
nected with what was termed a Court of Requests.
It was a prison, indeed, but the like of which he had
never heard of since he read of the celebrated Black-
hole at Calcutta, or those dark and loathsome dun-
geons which had disgraced bygone days. It was a
prison under ground, in a cellar of the house ; and in
this place twenty-three persons were confined for
debt. He was told that the situation of these unfor-
tunate persons was truly intolerable, and that it was
really impossible for language to describe the wretched
condition in which these beings were detained. He
was told its common name in the town was the Louse
Hole ; by that it was known, by that it was called ;
and he could not refrain from saying, that it was really
a disgrace to think that such a prison, such a sink of
filth and cruelty, could be permitted to exist in a
town like this. Having thus noticed the place of as-
sault, which he had no doubt would soon undergo a
change, he should state the facts of the case he had to
prosecute against the prisoners. It appeared that some
disturbance arose in this place, in which the assist-
ance of the police was required. On the 25th Dec.
(being Christmas-day), the governor permitted a
number of persons, friends of the unfortunate debtors
who were confined in this hole, to go into the place,
for the purpose of seeing their friends and spending
some time with them. A certain time was allowed
for them to remain in ; but it appeared that they re-
mained longer than the time allowed, and under the
influence of drink they began to quarrel. In fact, a
regular fight ensued, and the governor was in a state
of terror and alarm. He was afraid to go near the
place, and he in consequence applied for the assistance
of the police. The complainant, Buckerfield, was
sent to the place, and he entered this cell, where he
was immediately seized hold of, the cape of his coat
was torn off, his staff was taken from him, he was
beaten with a stick upon the head, and grossly ill-
used by the persons in the room.
Mr. Boot was then called, and on being examined
by Mr. Mellor, stated that he was keeper of the prison
called the Court of Requests.
Cross-examined by Mr. Millar—lie had been
twenty-six years altogether in his present situation,
and the cell of which he had been speaking had been
used all that time as a prison. It had been called
the Louse Hole from time immemorial. Men women,
and children,rwere altogether in one room. He could
not refuse to let their wives in, if they came at proper
hours. He could not tell the size of the room. It
was something larger than the area around that table.
Respectable persons were placed in an inner room.
Mr. Millar—And what sort of persons, pray, do
you put in this glorious pandemonium ? Witness—
I put all those there who do not go out under the
Insolvent Act. They did not sleep in that room at
night ; they slept in a room up stairs. Sometimes
they requested to be allowed to sleep down in the
room already described. The parties up stairs had
straw beds if they paid for them.—(Sensation in
Court.) They had no beds when they slept below
stairs. He could not tell the size of the place they
slept in above stairs. It was more than five yards
square. He would not swear it was twenty yards.
There were twenty-seven persons sleeping in the
room at the time.
Mr. Mellor—And dow do they lie ?
Mr. Spooner, barrister—They lie down heads and
points like a parcel of dogs.
The Recorder—Has any person in authority visited
the place during your time ? Witness—A person
from Loudon visited it two years ago, and since then
one came down.
The Recorder—What was his name ? Witness—
Ido not know. He came and said he was an in-
spector of prisons, and I showed him all the rooms,
and told him the number of prisoners they contained.
The Recorder—ls not this Court of Requests pre-
sided over by Commissioners ? Witness—Yes.
The Recorder—Do they ever look over the pri-
soners ? Witness—They are there every Friday.
The Recorder—Do any of them ever go down to
look at this place ? Witness—Yes; they have seen it.
Evidence was then given of the assault, and the
Recorder addressed the jury. Twenty-seven fellow-
beings—fellow-men, endowed with all the sensibilities
of nature, had, it appeared, from time to time, been
subject to bodily torture and mental degradation, to
the manifest injury of body and soul, in this miser-
able dungeon—a dungeon existing below the sur-
face of the earth, although no person ought
to be confined below the earth—in a dun-
geon
that recalled to the mind those horrible places
which he had hoped had passed away for ever.
In his opinion, unless they saw good reason to doubt
the evidence they had heard, the two prisoners were
clearly guilty of the assault ; and they stood then in
a position which he hoped would be long peculiar to
themselves in the administration of English laws.
They stood in a position in which a verdict of guilty
would draw upon them, not, in point of fact, a punish-
ment, but a reward; for one could readily believe
that it would be, after the description they had heard
of the place of their confinement, a blessing to them
to be removed under almost any circumstances.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty. After which
The Recorder, addressing the prisoners, said he
was not giving them any pain by pronouncing the
sentence upon them, that they be imprisoned in the
county gaol, and kept to hard labour for three months.
In that gaol they would find cleanliness and humanity,
and attention would be paid to their spiritual as, well
as temporal wants.
The prisoners were then removed.

IMPROVEMENTS OF THE MINT IN TIIE BOROUGH.
—The long contemplated improvements in that densely
populated locale—the Mint in Southwark, are now it
would seem at once to take place. The same plan for a
new street, which was approved of at a meeting held at
the Town Hall, on September 17, 1840, designed by Mr.
Attiscocks, the surveyor, is to undergo little or no mo-
dification or alteration. It runs in a slightly curved
line from Blackman-street, St. George the Martyr, and
joins Charlotte-street, Christchurch, thus cutting
through the very heart of the miserable dens and those
hotbeds of crime in the Borough Mint. The line will
intersect Harrow-street, Red-cross-street, Duke-street
and King-street, embracing Mint-square, and widening
Queen-street, Southwark Bridge-road, to upwards of
three times its present width. After crossing the South-
wark Bridge-road it leaves a portion on the north of
Norfolk-street standing, and quitting it at Paviour's-
alley, intersects Prince's-street and crosses Gravel-lane
into Charlotte-street, only a corner of which will have
to come down. The whole extent is a little more than
6,600 yards. A question naturally suggests itself—
beneficial as the vast improvements at present proceed-
ing must be allowed to be,—what is to become of the
poor who have so long inhabited St. Giles's, the Mint,
and other localities which are now daily being rased to
the ground ?

MR. WALLACE, M.P.—lt affords us pleasure to
state that the resolution come to by the Town Council
of Paisley, some time ago, for presenting the freedom of
the burgh to Mr. 'Wallace, is likely soon to be fulfilled.
The reason of the somewhat unaccountable delay that has
occurred regarding the fulfilling of this duty is, that
the members of Council to whom the task of cor-
responding with Mr. Wallace was allotted, were
unanimously of opinion that some appropriate token
of respect from the inhabitants in compliment to
Mr. Wallace for his valuable services in securing the
penny postage, should accompany the freedom voted by
the CounciL Many gentlemen unconnected with the
Council having concurred in the this view, the most ap-
propriate accompaniment that occurred to them was a box
for the burgess ticket, composed of the Wallace oak and
of Queen Mary's yew. On application to both Sir
John Maxwell and the Elderslie family, the best selec-
tions that could be obtained of cuts from these two
trees, famous in the history of Scotland, were most
cheerfully granted, although considerable difficulty was
experienced, and a good deal of search and delay
was necessary before a proper piece of the oak
could be found. All difficulties of this kind
have, however, now been surmounted, and on
having obtained a beautiful design from
Mr. M'Clure, artist, Glasgow, the design and classical
materials alluded to, have been put into the hands of Mr.
M'Clure, carver, Exchange-square, who has now got the
box in a considerable state of forwardness, and which,
when finished, will be a most appropriate gift for the
representative of the Wallace family, as well as a splendid
and elaborate piece of art. Amongst other devices, the
box will be embellished with the arms of Wallace, and
with those of the town, placed in conspicuous places.—
Glasgow Evening Post.

FlRE.—Yesterday morning, shortly before three
o'clock, a fire broke out in a private dwelling-house in
the occupation of Captain John Shepheard, situate at
No. 7, Mansfield-street, Portland-place. The fire origi-
nated in the upper floor, from, it is supposed, a spark
flying out of a lighted candle amongst the bed and
bedding. The Brigade, County, and West of England
engines were remarkably quick in reaching the spot, but
fortunately the fire was extinguished without calling the
engines into requisition. One of the domestics, in
assisting to get the fire out was burnt about the hands
and wrists. Captain Shepheard is understood to be
insured in the Imperial.

-lU,_ 'e.