The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-20 00:00:00

of little consequence whether gold was or was not the
measure of value. There were three natural equiva•
bents in corn, silver, and gold. It took about the same
quantity of labour to grow and produce a quarter of
ieliiat as it did to produce 5 grains, :3 dwts. (.1. gold, or
81 ounces of silver ; sand thus it wee that these several
commodities were natural equivalents fur each other,
and acted as parallel rates of value. Now an ounce of
silver was rated in the exchange markets as being worth
ss. 2d.--it was, in fivA, worth only 4s. 11d., but for the
ske of argument he would take it at its exchangeable
value, and call it ss. 2d. Now it was seeiertaiiied that,
according to the natural worth of gold, and the equiva-
lent value of silver, that a quarter of wheat, when not
subject to taxation, ought to be wcrtit 335. 7,1., and coo-
sequently that 61 ounces of silver ought to purchase that
quantity of corn ; but by the effect of indirect taxation
the price of this corn was raised to 50s. It wes taxed
more titan SO per cent., but the gold and the silver
which ryas
Isi%,•,intsceuVs to ptiredeve it were untaxed, and the
had to give one- the farmer and the manducturer
mere of their labour than they used
to do. could not rise in price ;it Mas j ositiveles required 'de Act of Parliam.nt that it should be re-
17s. 103,1. an ounce, and by thus placing a
.axed equivalent against an untaxed equivalent the pro-
ducer only got 8-Cdwts. of geld for that %Melt ought to
have produced him 12 da ts. Mr. Canning had de-
scribed Sir R. Peel as the acme of sublime mediocrity,
and Mr. D'lsraeli, the other night, had stated that Con-
servative Government was only an organised hypocrisy;
but he would go further, and assert that Sir R. Puel,
when introducing his Bill of ISI9, ryas a ither shamefu le
ienorantef historical facts, or criminal in misrepresenting
them. He had stated that his object wa, to restore the
standard of Elizabeth ; but what was the fact ? The
sovereign of the present clay contained only 5 de ts.
3 grains of gold, or, in other words, 123 grains, whereas
the sovereign of Elizabeth contained 172 grains, making
a difference, at the rate of twopence a grain, of no less
than Bs. 4d. between the value of the sovereigns
of Elizabeth and Victoria, so that this profession was
like many other of his professions, a vain and a
Use one: his object was to keep down gold to the
Mint price of 31. 17s. Wide for he knew that if he could
make gold cheap he would make labour cheap also.
That his object was not security so much, was shown by
' the circumstance that the only bank which was allowed to
issue notes had themselves the other day been obliged to
go to the Bank of France to borrow 13,500,000/. There
was no cabalistic power in a sovereign, for it was, after
all, but a token of value, and the impression of the
Queen's head upon it conferred no additional intrinsic
value ; it only was a certificate of a certain weight and
fineness, and if the Goldsmith's Company were to issue
similar emblems, they would be taken by Mr. Rothschild
or any other great capitalist just as readily as sove-
reigns. The belief that the intrinsic value of gold gave
a greater security to the public was altogether fallacious,
but the injury which it worked was a sad reality ; and
the Act by which it was brought into existence was that
attempt which, after the conclusion of the war in 1815,
the landowners made to shift the burden of the debt.
from their own shoulders to those of working men, and it
was a well-known fact that the working man did absolutely
pay 72 per cent. of the whole taxation of the country,
and the Bill of 1819 was pssied in order to perpetuate
tee high price in cern and the low price paid for the
labour of the working man. Mr. Duncan then went
into a series of statements to show that the foreign
trade of the country is not nearly so valuable as it was
supposed to be, and he beliered that attention was
directed to it which might be much better applied to ob-
taining a better mode of distribaiing the wealth which
labour produced. He showed that the attempt deriSed
by Colonel Torrens, Mr. Joplin, and Mr. Jones Loyd,
to secure a favourable rate ' of exchange, was fallacious,
and that the only effect wrought upon the exchanges was
occasioned by sending a continually-increasing quantity
of goodefi into the foreign market, to bring that gold
back to th.s country which, for our domestic purposes,
was totally useless. Gold, he allowed, was a necessary
medium of exchange between country and country, but
the application of it as the standard of value in
Britain was neither more nor less than obliging our arti-
sans to work esixteen hours a day to obtain those
necessaries which a working eaan in Germany
gut for eight hours' exertion. lie thought that, as he
had pointed out an evil, he ought also to point out a
remedy, and that was, issuing of Exchequer-bills for
small sums to the full amount of the taxation;'and he
showed that, as these bills would be based on the whole
property of the country, no doubt could be entertained
of their validity, and after showing that the present Ex-
chequer-bills were derived from the old Exchequer
tellies, as evinced in the term bill for Lille, an old Nor-
man French word, and thence applied in its derivative,
billet, to the Exchequer tally, which was a piece of wood
notched is a particular way and then divided, one part
being laid up in the Exchequer repository, and the other
issued are' circulated in the country in payment for
stores or other necessaries, and which was returnable at
thel end of twelve months—he !adduced an instance of
the utility cf using such notes where a new market had
been erected, through the exertions of Mr. Brock, at
St. Peter's Port, in the island of Guernsey, who
issued notes of a similar kind in payment of the
works, and who annually redeemed the notes,
to the extent of 4,0001., out of the rents of the
eighty stalls which the market contained. The same
system might be adopted by Government and he felt sa-
tisfied that if the plan were adopted it would at once
secure to the working man a full rate of wages, to those
iu the middle classes a fair remuneration in business
profit, and whether accompanied by direct taxation,
of which he heartily approved, or not, would bring the
whole available property into play for the benefit of the
community at large, and would equalise those burdens
which were now grinding all the lower petitions of so-
ciety into dust. Mr. Duncan concluded his long and
perspicuous lecture amid the earnest cheers of what had
been a most attentive audience.

THE SALT-HILL MURDER. •
AYLESBURY, WEDNESDAY.--It is extraordinary with litat
avidity every morsel of intelligence relating to the mur-
derer, John Tawell, is sought and snatched up by the public.
Far and wide inquiry and speculation are busily on foot con-
cerning him, but nearer the scene of the murder he is the
general topic of conversation. As may be supposed, many
incorrect stories concerning him find their way into circu-
lation, but nothing can be more absurd and reprehensible
than some of the inventions which idle gossip has promul-
gated.

- Public feeling is, generally speaking, against him, and
' every day some fresh amount of crime, in the way of poison-
ing, is attributed to him. Sarah Hart is supposed by the
credulous to be by no means the only person upon whom he
has practised his knowledge of chemistry; and it is suspected
that while he kept his druggist's shop in Sydney a wide field
was open to him for the exercise of his skill. . His partner
at Sydney is said to have died suddenly, leaving him all his
property. His two sons are said to have left this world
suddenly. His first wife, it is stated, died suddenly. Sarah
Hart had a narrow escape once; and these circumstances, in
connexion with her murder, by no means lessen the belief of
his guilt.
By those who have any knowlede of the prisoner he is re-
garded very differently. Everybody who knows the wretched
man speaks well of him, and everybody who has conversed
with him has received a favourable impression. Mild, gen-
tlemanly, and unaffected in his manner, he listens to what-
ever is said to him with respectful attention, and converses
with all the serenity of a martyr. A convict of the gaol re-
mains with him at his request throughout the day, as a sort
of attendant, and to this man lie is particularly communica-
tive. He received the visiting magistrates yesterday with
great composure, and expressed his thankfulness for the con-
sideration shown to him. It was intimated that nobody
would be allowed to visit him but those whom lie expressed
a wish to see, upon which he observed, that he desired to see
nobody but his wife, and lie looked forward to another in-
terview with her. One of the magistrates suggested to him'
the propriety of foregoing such a scene, and sparing the feel-
ings of his wife in particular, of whom lie had so lately taken
leave. He, however, persisted in the wish and hope of again
seeing her, meekly alluding to the affectionate terms upon
which they had lived together.
It is remarkable that the culprit has never once coat--
plained of the sentence which was passed upon him. When
the hope of escape (which had been very great within him)
was suddenly crushed, he observed that " The judge was a
just judge, but a stern one." He has once remarked, with
remote reference to his sentence, " that he could conscien-
tiously acquit himself of cruelty or treachery to anybody."
But he rarely, if aver, adverts to his crime.
lle continues to receive numerous letters from all quarters
of the country. His time is dividad between writing and
praying; and he oceasionally sees the chaplain, Mr. Cox,
but no revelation has yet been made by Tawell. Great care
has been observed by the authorities to prevent, what it is
thought by many he will attempt, the making away with
himself. Mrs. Tawell is known to have been aware of the
existence of such a person as Sarah Hart, and even of
Tawell's having children by her; but she was utterly un-
conscious of his visiting her, and attributes his last visit to
purely humane motives.
Friday, the 28th instant, is decidedly fixed for the exe-
cution, unless the Secretary of State orders it otherwise. A
petition to Sir James Graham has been this day set on foot .n
the town of Aylesbury, praying that Tawell's sentence of
death may be commuted to transportation for life. This pe-
tition is grounded upon an objection to the punishment of
death, and the prayer is set forth in beht!lf of all whe lie
under such a sentence. The petition is signed by a.fevr
tradesmen of the town, nearly all of whom are Dissenter&