The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-29 00:00:00

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY EXTRACTS - FROMTHR MORNING PAPBRS,,i
MAY 29, 1826.
THE TIMEs.]
The Report of the Committee on the Scotch Bank-
ing System is such as'was expected. Whenever a
General calls a council of war, he means to sneak off
without facing his enemy. In like manner, Ministers,
when they " called a Committee," to investigate the
propriety or possibility of extending the extinction of
small notes to Scotland, after they had declared that
that measure should be extended to Scotland, evi-
dently meant the Committee to lead them back, with
as little loss of Credit as possible, out of the dan-
gerous position hi which that declaration had placed
them. The Coinmittee, therefore has done the duty
for which it was appOinted. The two circumstances
that make in favour of the exemption of Scotland
from the rule to which England is subjected are
these---lst, that Scotland had a circulation of small
notes before such a circulation existed in England ;
and, 2dly, that for the last ten years there has only
been one commission of bankruptcy issued for a Scot-
tish bank. Upon both these allegations, which, how-
ever, taken together are not conclusive of the question,
it is obvious to remark, that were their force greater
than it is, Ministers must have been acquainted with
them when they contemplated the extension of the
measure to Scotland, and therefore did not think them
sufficient, under present circumstances, to operate the
exemption of Scotland. The menace and opposition
of Scotland are the only new features in the case.—
And with respect to the first of the allegations, it
may be observed, that during almost the whole of the
period that Scotland had a circulation of small notes
(England having none,) she had simultaneously a cir-
culation of gold also. For example, as was stated by
Air. Peel on the authority of Adam Smith, in 1775,
she had a circulation of half a million ; but, as time
advanced, that metallic circulation decreased. She
had begun to find out the advantage of buying
English guineas with her paper ; and " the quantity
which was in circulation ln Scotland just preceding
the Bank restriction was not worth speaking of"--
(Mr. Peel's speech on Friday night.) Scotland has
no cash in circulation at present ; and is not the in-
ference as clear as day, that if ever we were to return
to a metallic currency by abolishing totally the issue of
small notes--,-(we say " if we ever were,' for now the
case is hopeless, the exemption of Scotland fiom the
• general rule proving, as we will maintain, ruinous to
the partial application ;) but—" if we ever were" so
to return, Scotland having no cash in circulation,
would be an incessant drain, an ever-filling and never-
Oiled oink to our metallic currency. We should sup-
ply Scotland with a lucrative trade in gold ; which
she would either export to the Continent, or return
to the Bank of England at a premium, as the call
might be greater abroad or nearer her own doors. What
can men of common sense then mean by saying, "that
" they require further evidence" to prove that the two
systems, the present Scotch and the approaching
English, are incompatible. The same men might
with equal reason pretend to convince us, that the
thirsty earth has refused to admit the late soaking
rain, which has been beneficently shed upon it. The
second allegation—the infrequency of bankruptcies in
Seotland among the bankers—will be found to have
is little foundation as that of which we have already
slisposed ; for it is not the present or past condition
of the Scotch banks that is under consideration, but
their probable situation at that time when the issue of
small notes shall he stopped in England ; not that we
think that they are then more likely to fail than here-
tofore ; but if they are so stable—if they possess such
inherent vigour, why should not their Htrength be
brought to aid our weakness at the approaching crisis,
when the Bank of England is to supply a metallic cur-
rency for all transactions under five pounds ? But the
trtith is, that the exemption of Scotch bankers from
failure is 'no proof of their wealth, or even of their sol-
'rosy, hut is the, result of a state of a society in Scot-
lamb which, if does not • prevent suspicion, pre-
vents the acting upon that suspicion through a more
powerful apprehension which tyrannises over the coun-
try. Septlanci is held in a kind of paper bondage,—
Upon the whole, our firm conviction is, that the deci-
sion of the Committee that Scotland shall not be
ohliged to resume a metallic currency together with
Enaind, is decisive of the fate of the latter country ;
or that, if not decisive of our fate with respect to the
Ailinction of small notes, it is calculated to fetter that
measure, without which we can never be in safety,
with new and most cruel difficulties.

[MORNING POST.]
It is with the most heartfelt satisfaction we find
that a subscription has been commenced in furtherance
of a most laudable and practical expedient to provide
employment for the destitute and wretched peasantry
of ifie sister kingdom. This we hail as the beginning
of a great and god-like work, which, if duly prose-
cuted, camiot fail to insure the comfort and happi-
ness of a numerous and valuable class of our fellow-
creatures (now in the most abject state of human
misery), whilst it will give invincible strength and
vigour to °le of the most important members of the
British Empire. During centuries past, Ireland has
exhibited a singular spectacle of wealth and beggary.
—Her wealth has appeared in the bounties of Provi-
dence, lavished with an unsparing hand—her beggary
and wretchedness in the evident destitution and super-
abundance of her population ; her resources have been
neglected and unexplored, whilst the intelligence of her
people has encreased, and useful science has every where
rapidly advanced. The direst strife has hitherto there
existed between the means of subsistence and the popu-
lation to be fed ; and the former have sunk under the
pressure ofthe latter, because capital and enterprise have
created no sources ofprofituble and permanent occupation
and intellect in its progress hue been borne down by the first
and original wants ofnature. How sincerely, then, shall we
rejoice to see the attention ofrespectable practical cha-
racters:directed towards that truly interesting Island.
Through their exertions we may hope to witness the
formation and establishment of sources of permanent
occupation, to the improvement of the condition and
the advancement of the happinees of the people. The
working of her coal mines alone would afford employ-
ment to tens of thousands ; and the other mediums of
productive and useful industry would be so speedily
developed, as in the course of a very short time to
muse the mountains and plains of the Sister Isle to
resound to the songs of a contented and happy mu_
Jation. Capital to set in motion the just and practi-
cal views entertained is all that is now required, and
as we are the children of one common stock, the
kindly assistance and support which the present fee-
ble commerce and limited institutions of the Sister
Kingdom stand in need of, will we trust be readily
and effectually administered. We regard the sub-
scription
set on foot as a demonstration of feelings at
once the most no. ble, most generous, and just. Taken

as an ebullition of high and liberal sentiment, it can
neither excite the . jealousy, nor rouse the angry pas-
sions, of any description of persons ;—it originates in
the purest and most virtuous source ; and having for
its object the permanent improvement and moral ad-
vancement of a large and meritorious portion of our
fellow-subjects, will we fondly hope and trust, come
warm to the heart of every well-wisher to the happi-
ness and prosperity of the Empire.

[MORNING NZRALp.]
Looking, as we do, upon the privileges of the
House of Commons as strictly those of the public, we
Are sorry when any disposition is shown to abandon
or fritter them away. This, we confess, appears to
us to have been done in the cases of the amendments
made by the Lords in the Bonded Corn Bill ; whioh,
we have no hesitation in saying, appear to have been
assented by the Lower House, merely on the score of
the inconvenience which would have resulted from
throwing out the Bill. The known and established
principle, as laid down by Mr. Hatsell, is the un-
doubted privilege the House of Commons invariably
claim and exercise, " of not permitting the Lords to
make any amendments whatever in Bills containing
their grants to the Crown." There can be no doubt
but that a Bill imposing a tax of 12s. a quarter on
bonded corn, is a Bill of that description ; and thou&h
the amendments made by the Lords were, we admit,
merely technical, and in furtherance of the real objects
of the Commons, yet the principle of not permitting
" any amendment whatever" in Money Bills, has on
this occasion been departed from ; and the door once
a-jar, may soon he set wide open.

To say that the late Races for the Derby Stakes, at
Epsom, have outwitted many who thought themselves
"knowing ones," is only to record the annual result
of the same system of dupery and cheatery, in which
fools and knaves are the mutual prey of each other,
but in which the latter, as usual, contrive to carry off
the larger share of the booty. The breed of horses is
an essential object of national traffic, and, in that
point of view, even had it no other recommendation,
we should say that horse-racing deserves to be encou-
raged ; but that it should become an actual system of
abuse and roguery, does not seem at all a necessary
consequence, and ought to be discouraged. The va-
gabonds who principally thrive by this abuse of it, have
actually no more to do with the horses than we have ;
but, having no honest means of support, obtain
a livelihood, and that sometimes a splendid one, by
sporting a knowledge they do not possess, and esta-
blishing a betting-book, in which, first by betting, and
then hedging, as they call it, they contrive to subsist
in a manner somewhat more apparently reputable, but
in fact not one jot more really so, than the other
thieves and gamblers who live upon the ignorant dupes
and scape-goats with which the kingdom abounds.—
Ever since this time twelvemonth, for instance, have
these people been designedlyaiid ostentatiously at work
to make others believe that they knew what horse
would win the stakes in question ; and it is actually,
a fact, we understand, that a certain member of the
prize-ring had no less a sum than 200,0001. depend-
ing one way or other upon the event—when, lo !
what is the event, but that a horse that was never
thought of carries off the prize, and leaves those wise-
acres to stare at each other, and laugh at the silly
dupes whom they have been plundering ? Were
it not for the demoralizing effect which this has
upon so many, and of those, no small number of
the rising generation, one would not much regret
it. Were the heroes of the turf nothing more than
a set of wolves, whose existence depended upon de-
vouring each other, few people would care who were
the devourers or who the devoured. But when we
know, as the fact is, that to obtain a Hill:M(34A, thous
people must draw fiat fish into their net, it is fit that
the public attention should be drawn to the practices
..of a gang of swindlers, who are only apparently above
or beyond the reach of the law, because there is a
sort of " honour among thieves," which it exempts
from its consequences. No knowledge is more useful,
or more mortifying, than that which is obtained by
watching the mind of a professed gambler—useful, as
it shows the acuteness which a keen regard of self-
interest begets,—mortifying, as it exhibits die degrada-
tion, in point of moral virtue, which results from mere
selfishness, unmixed with any of the kind and social
feelings of our nature. Of all the heartless reptiles
with which the world is peopled, the trading gambler
is the worst ; and, follow him to the Stock-Exchange,
the hazard-table, or the turf, we find him the same
libel upon human nature and society.—lbid.

[REPRESENTATIVE.]
We have read with consummate disgust the per-
formance of some of our contemporaries, who are try-
ing to invest, with a fine romantic interest, the person
and history of Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield. One
assures us that he is " an interesting young man, very
gentlemanlike ;" and another discovers a strong resem-
blance to the features of one of our popular poets.
We must confess that all this appears to us to be in
precisely the same taste that transformed the late
Mr. John Thurtell into " the stout-hearted tar," &c.
&c. We wonder that any body should have been taken
iu by the John Bull's narrative. Mr. Wakefield, or
some friend of his, may have bad some communication
with the person who penned it. Such, we have no
doubt, is the fact of the case ; but who could read
the paper without recognizing the perfect coolness,
self-possession, and gay phrases, of a clever and
thoroughly practised writer ? And who could be-
lieve that Mr. Wakefield is a man of any such ta-
lents or accomplishments? He appears from the
face of his whole proceedings to be a miserably
weak-minded creature--a nervous fool. A fine hero
fora seduction story indeed ! To play on a poor girl
of fifteen by lies about her mother's illness mid her
father's rum ; and then, having succeeded, having
actually bad the timid creature in his hands for a fort-
night, to have made so poor an use of his opportuni-
ties, that4he could abandon him without one struggle,
at the first word from a couple__ of uncles. He is, it
seems, turned of thirty. Had he been a mere youth,
there might have been something to say in his behalf;
but a man of thirty well knows what he is about when
he sets to work to abstract an heiress of fifteen from
her boarding school. We have no patience with the
cant about tenderness, enthusiasm, and the spirit of
adventure. He who, having been born and bred a
gentleman, steals a men's daughter, hazarding at least
her happiness through lire, and necessarily out-
raging every feeling of her parents, appears to us to be
very considerably less the object of this sort of sym-
pathy than the poor Irish labourer from St. Giles's,
who finds himself on the way to Botany Bay for hav-
ing made free with forty shillings. We are at a loss
to comprehend the meaning of this gentleman's
Coming home to stand a trial. Could he dream that,
after what he had done, lie could ever have the slightest
chalice of being admitted into any decent society in this
country again? He intuit have had strange advisers.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, MAY 27.
THE KING tie DEBNEY.

The defendant, who had been found guilty on an
indictment for continuing a nuisance in St. James's-
street, Gray's-inn-lane, was this day brought up for
judgment, and sentenced in the penalty of 501., and
to be kept in the custody of the Marshal till the same
be paid.

THE KING V. BROWNE.
The defendant, who had been convicted of having
committed an assault on Elizabeth, the wife of John
Smith, was brought up in custody of the gaoler of
Newgate, and sentenced to pay a fine of 101. to the
King, and give security for good behaviour for two
years, himself, in 401., and two sureties in 201. each.
THE KING V. CUMMINS, CLAY, AND ANOTHER.
Mr. SCARLETT, in a former term, obtained a rule,
calling on the defendants, magistrates of the county of
Devon, to show cause why a criminal information
should not be exhibited against them, for certain irre-
gular proceedings by them taken, in the conviction of
a person for an offence alleged to have been committed
against the game-laws.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Mr. COLERIDGE
appeared on behalf of the defendants, and showed cause
against the rule, and Mr. SCARLETT and Mr.
CHITTY were heard at considerable length in sup-
port of it.
The Lonn CHIEF JUSTICE stated, that the grounds
on which this application had been founded were not
sufficient to justify the special interference of the Court,
but as there was sufficient to warrant an application of
this nature, the Court was of opinion that the rule
must be discharged, on payment of costs by the parties
against whom the application had been made. His
Lordship then expressed the disapprobation of the
Court at the practice, which it appeared from the affi-
davits had prevailed, of taking the examination of a
witness on oath in the absence of the party it was in-
tended to criminate. It was most improper, as it de-
prived the party accused of the benefit of cross-exami-
nation, and that testimony from the look and manner
with which the evidence was given, which was often
more important than the words themselves.--Rule dis-
charged accordingly, with costs.