The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TM. PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Circular of the Bank of England, which
we communicated to the public yesterday, exci-
ted precisely the agitation which we predicted in
the city, and being, as we had likewise intima-
ted would be the case, very generally reprobated,
it was also very generally disowned by the Direc-
tors of the Bank. Its emission, therefore, must
only have been the act of a fcw, which in our
mind is no very proper method of conducting
business by a public body. We have, indeed,
no doubt but that the production issued from
the Bank, and was addressed to country bankers
of the highest credit : we must therefore treat
it as an official document. We are not, indeed,
very favourable to the system of country banking
as it has been but too generally carried on—by
mere country dealers, men of no independent
capital : but we are not more favourable to one
great monopoly : our observations, therefore, as
affecting the reciprocal interests of the Pank of
England and country banks, will be impartial.
ith respect to the measure itself, it is briefly
this—to withdraw the notes of country bankers
from circulation, Bank of England notes being
given them to issue in the place of their own ;
for which Benk of England notes they are to
pay an interest to the national bank equal to all
the expences incident to the issue of private
notes. The gain of tile country banker will
therefore be, what he can make by the use of
public notes ; and this is calculated for him, to
be from two to three per cent. upon the whole
issue : it being assumed that he made before
cnly about five per cent. in the gross by his trade
of banker, of which one half went in printing,
issuing, stamp-duty, and interest on the amount
of bank paper which he ought to keep to meet
return. This being the scheme, what are the ob-
jects which it affects to compass—the evils which
it proposes to remove ? Panic is the great mis-
chief apprehended, and the periodic recurrence
of general distrust. But the truth is, that
though distrust in this or that country bank may
create local or partial panics, and so consum-
mate the evil which it, apprehends, yet general
panics can only be communicated by and through
great bodies, such as the Bank of England. It
was not the stoppage of cash payments in 1797,
by any private bankers, or by the whole body of
them, that occasioned the immeasurable mischief
and misery of which we have long been, and are
new, the victims, but the stoppage of cash pay-
ments by the Bank of England. Country banke
are not subject, except secondarily and subordi-
nately, to the shocks of international policy.
These are felt by the Bank of England imme-
diately on their occurrence ; and are communi-
cated by it to the remotest corners of the em-
pire. The value of its paper rises or sinks on
the most trivial discussion with foreign States.
The Circular complains of the double issue of
notes from private and public sources. It states
" this conflict of action and interest between
these two issues to be the main difficulty." The
contraction of the Bank issues, " though to the
most trifling amount, lays the foundation of
alarm ; and the paper-money issued by the
country bankers becomes discredited before they
can be provided to meet the run -upon their este.-
blishments. * It is in this. state of
discredit, attending the private paper-money cur-
rency, that the Bank of England is looked
to, not only for gold in exchange for its own
totes, but also to supply an almost instanta-
neous demand to a very great extent, or. the part
of those country bankers who have the command
of funded or other tangible property to offer as
security ; the magnitude of which internal de-
mand for gold actually places the Bank in the
greatest possible danger, and with that danger
the credit of the country is placed at hazard."
What, we ask, has the Bank of England to do
with all this Let it issue only that quantity of
paper money of which it need not dread the re-
turn ; and let country bankers get as much as
they can of it, and as much cash and bullion as
is' fitting for their- stability. If they have not
enough, they must fail, in case of a run. Still
it is sufficient for the Bank of England to find
gold for it own notes when presented. The
Bank has no right to place itself in danger, by
supplying the dentrod of country bankers, (with
discount no doubt,) upon funded and other tangible
property offered as security. But we ask the Bank
of England whether, during the late panic, it had
gold enough to cash its own notes ? and whether,
after all the local panics, the greatest panic of all
,-vs not, lest the Bank of England should refuse to
7t its own notes ? But farther : one of the
f the many evils which affect our currency,
causes (:
part of which proceed from the
the great.'r
Bank itself, is
the arbitrary contraction or expan-
sion of the issue s from the Bank : and in this
circular the Bank a."ails itself of its own wrong,
to propose a still fertile:" extension of its powers.
Government contracts a loa:, by an issue of Exche-
quer Bills; if these came openly !o market, and were
honestly purchased out of the circulating medium
then in existence, the evil would be less. That cir-
culating medium would not be diminished ; for the
cash and notes received by Government would iin-
rnediately pass into circulation again in purchases or
payments. The money was needed for those pur-
poses. But, on the contrary, what takes place ?
The Ic..xchequer Bills are taken to the Bank, whose
Director; immediately fabricate new notes to buy
them with,N;rhich Government throwsinto circulation.
Hence the eir,!clating medium is rapidly increased;
the prices of things are enhanced before the poor
man's wages to purchase them are raised : lie knows
not what cause consigns himself and his family to
hunger. No system of rural or commercial e,eseisomy
can keep pace with thin evil ; and the mischief's
arising from a contraction of the circulating medium
are yet grater. But it is not from, the Bank that
the remedy of Cie evils is to be sought.--Tintes.
, We look upon Mr. Husk-iv-son to be the mote
useful Minister that England has had to boast of
Os' many years. It is not merely that he has
reasoned upon experimental questions with more
discemination and acuteness than his neighbours,
but tht he has watched the relative play of the
national ;nterests upon each other, with more
patient and eeeady vigilance ; embracingg,radually
and leisurely within his view, a wider field of
facts by which to qualify his principles, as well as
to support them ; and thus coming to the execu-
tive duties of a statesmen armed with that
es-pecial branch and order of knowledge, by
which those who designate themselves as " prac-
tical politicians" profess to require that the affairs
of rations should be judged, and by which Mr.
1-lusic;eson has abundantly proved, that your men
of " practice," when they abuse their opportuni-
ties, can bee! he exposed and silenced. The
Right Honourai2e Gentleman has just published
after a careful revision, his recent speech upon
the state of the Shippii.:j Interest. In that
speech he has done more for tri: cause of com-
mon sense and rectitude in -legislation, than we
have often seen effected by more ponderous aid
presuming meanie The great beauty of this dis-
course is ite perfect simplicity. The documents
referred to are so decisive, the demonstration.
offered is so clear and absolute, that the mind
of the reader seems almost passive in its recap-
esion of the important and triumphant truth con-

tended for by the Minister whose system of
policy has been on trial. Instead of the
decline of British Shipping, consequent, as
was alleged, on the partial opening of the
Navigation Laws, it comes out as plain as
figures can make it, that, with the single
exception of the silk trade,—which appears
to have been saved, instead of sacrificed, by
the liberal regulations of the Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman,—the trade in ships has
suffered less from the general convulsion of commerce
since 182.5, than any other department of national
industry in this empire. We shall not weaken the
impression which a perusal of this pamphlet must in-
fallably produce upon the brain of any but a mad-
man, by quoting particular sentences or tables, in
testimony of the overthrow inflicted by Mr. Huskis-
son on the very ignorant, or very little scrupulous, •
complaints brought against him on behalf of those
whose sentiments the other member for Liverpool
was delegated on the above occasion to make known.
But this much it is only fair to mention. The year
182.5 being one so distinguished, or disgraced, by
wild and immeasurable speculation, that no candid
man would thind of taking the forced importations
of that d:sastrotis year as a standard of comparison
for any that preceded or may follow it,—so it it ob-
vious that, in relation to shipping no less than cot-
ton, we must exclude the year 182.5 from among the
general bases of reasoning with regard to commercial
prosperity or decay. With that exception, then, it
is manifest from the tables, that in the year 1826 the
British shipping inwards contained above 100,000
tons, and employed above 8,000 seamen more than
1824, while the shipping outwards not only ex-
ceeded every former year since 1814, but even that
of 1825 itself, by upwards of 140,000 tons, and by
more than t,OOO seamen. The speech °tight, in-
deed, to he made the manual of every body who
wishes for proof- in matters of legislation, or who
desires a sample of the danger which might befall
this country, were implicit credit to be given by
Parliament to the assertions of interested men.—lbid.
The account of the Pitt Club Dinner in ano-
ther column, for which we are indebted to a pri-
vileged contemporary, gives us pretty nearly the
idea of it which we anticipated. There can be
little difficulty in collecting 300 or 400 people
to partake of a dinner in London. The two
Sheriffs present would, on half a day's notice,
have disposed of that number for hard cash, for
any dinner, at any time. We allow that several
individuals distinguished for rank were present,
and that two other individuals—one renowned
as the greatest Commander of tile age, and the
other eulogized by friends and opponents for his
skill in Law—were also present. But with the
exception of Air. Peel, no rising talent was to
be found there. Lord Kenyon was obliged, in
his own person, to represent both Wales and
Scotland. It has been well remarked by a Con-
temporary (The Globe), " that whoever will be
at the trouble of referring to Mr. Pitt's speeches
in Parliament, will see that as a Peace Minister,
his principles were Retrenchment, Reform, Free
Trade, and Catholic Emancipation ;" that it
was, therefore, singular to see Lord . . . as a
Reformer, and Sir Thomas Gooch as a Political
Economist, assembled for the purpose of cele-
brating these great principles.
" In 1755 (adds our Contemporary), Mr. Pitt brought
forward several propositions for removing the restrictions
which then existed upon the trade between Great Britain
and Ireland. The Gooches and the Lethbridges of the day
took alarm at the dangerous innovations of the Minister,
and assailed him with a clamour as furious and as senseless
as that which their enlightened successors have directed
against Mr. Huskisson. It was contended, that the heavier
taxation and higher wages of England would render her
manufacturers unable to compete with-the indiatry of Ire-
land ; and it was confidently predicted, that the shipping
interest of Britain would be sacrificed. The clamour which
had been raised against a free trade with Ireland did not
deter the enlightened Minister from extending the principle
to our intercourse with France. In 1787, Mr. Pitt
brought forward his Commercial Treaty with France, con-
spicuous alike for a knowledge of facts and of principles.
This enlightened policy was followed by results even more
beneficial than were anticipated. The manufactures, the
commerce, the finances of the country, all rapidly im-
proved ; and in 1792, the Minister came down to the
House of Commons, and in sthe most able and scientific
speech ever delivered within its walls, explained, upon true
principles, the causes of the national prosperity."
In Mr. Pitt's speech on the above occasion,
he referred, in justification of his views, to " the
writings of an author of our own times (I mean
the author of the celebrated Treatise on the
Wealth of Nations), whose extensive knowledge
of detail and depth of philosophical research will,
I believe, furnish the best solution to every ques-
tion connected with the history of commerce, or
with the system of Political Economy." How
would Sir Thomas Gooch or Sir Thomas Leth-
bridge have felt on hearing such language ?
Their hair would have stood fairly on end !
Why, there is not an idea possessed in common
by these clod-poles and the Statesman whom
they met to celebrate. As for the Lord Chan-
cellor, so far from deeming politics a science,
requiring study and application, it is understood
that, with the exception of Law, his reading is
confined to The Gentleman's Magazine and
newspapers. That in troublesome times, Mr.
Pitt might appreciate his labours to bring Home
Tooke and Hardy to the scaffold, may be very
true ; but on all subjects which procured Mr.
Pitt his reputation, there is hardly a man in the
country with whom he would not have conversed
in preference to Lord Eldon. They were the
antipodes of each other. We know not well what
to make of Mr. Peel's speech in praise of Mr.
Pitt. " Whenever (said he) the question of
Reform was proposed, he had the manliness to
meet the clamour that was raised against him in
his pursuit to preserve the great interests of the
empire. If he had stifled his honest opinion
for the purpose of keeping in power, I should
have been compelled to join his enemies in his
reprobation."—This is a very unfortunate eulogy.
Mr. Pitt sissy have been sincere in his change of
opinion respecting Reform; but if he had retained
his former opinion, he would not have remained
Minister. He did not need to shift his opinion for
the purpose of remaining in power, because if he
had avowed any other than those he declared he
entertained, he would not have kept his place. The
change might be sincere, but it led to place, and not
to dismissal. Again it is true that Mr. Pitt alleged
that he went out of office on account of the Catholic
Claims. But retreat soon converted him; for so far
from " refusing to stifle his honest opinion for the
purpose of keeping in power," we have the express
authority of the Earl of Liverpool (then the Earl of
Hawkesbury) for the fact that Mr. Pitt, notwith-
standing his oath of Privy Councillor, that he would
advise his Majesty according to the best of his judg-
ment, actually gave a pledge to his Majesty that he
would stifle his own opinion. Lord Liverpool dis-
tinctly stated, in his place irr the House of Lords, in
answer to Lord Grenville's expose, in March, 1807,
" that Mr. Pitt went out of office on this very ques-
tion (the Catholic Claims), yet, on his return, he
did voluntarily state that he would never bring the
subject again under his Royal consideration. Whence
did this disposition arise, but from a laudable attention
to the conscientious feelings of his Sovereign." It is
well known that the pledge given by Mr. Pitt was ex-
acted from the Cabinet of 1505-7, arid that they refused
to give it. Is Mr. Peel ignorant of these things ?
We rJoubt it. We suspect he has been fishing for a
confutation, in order to draw attention to the changes
of Mr. Pitt, by way of obtaining an excuse for his
own chancres of. opinion. If Mr. Pitt changed one
opinion and stifled anOthef, for the purpose of re-
maining in office, and is, notwithstanding, believed

by the country to have been one of our best Mini-
sters (except as a War Minister, in which respect
he was greatly overseen, though it is generally be-
lieved he was driven into the war by the Alarmists,
much against his will), why may not Mr. Peel also
either change or shift one opinion only ? He must
be sadly tired of his associates. He has, indeed, the
dignity of being far above any rival in his party; but
then he requires supporters to demolish his great
enemy, Mr. Canning, and he has none to back him.
Mr. Peel, then, has been feeling the pulse of the
public. If this was not his object, he has been
taking a most scandalous liberty with history.—
Morning Chronicle.

There is an idea prevalent, we believe, among
some persons, that the Press is extremely inte-
rested in such places as Coroners' Courts and
Police Offices being open, that their proceedings
maybe given in the newspapers. As far as the
mere question of self-interest is concerned, we
rather suspect the fact is quite the other way,
and that in reality the information obtained from
these places, especially the former, costs the
proprietors of newspapers much more than it is
worth ; and that there would not be one news-.
paper less either sold or read throughout the
kingdom were the doors of every Court in the
country closed against the public. It is easy
enough to impute motives to the newspapers,
and it would be easy enough for the newspapers
to impute motives in return. The question is
one which ought not to be. argued upon such
narrow grounds as these; and it is due to the
Judges of the Court of King's Bench that we
should say, that in their recent judgment upon
the subject, delivered by the Lord Chief Justice,
they appear to have been influenced by no such
contracted views. We are free to confess that
the opening and closing of the doors of
Courts of Justice may, to a certain degree, be
a choice of evils. Disclosures of scenes of vice
must, to a certain degree, contaminate the
mind ; and other disclosures may take place cal-
culated, in some degree, to aid the escape of
criminals, and in other ways defeat the ends of
justice. To the first of these we trust to be par-
doned for saying that nearly the same objection
might be urged to the unlimited propagation
and study of Holy Writ, in which there are some
statements and allusions from which delicate minds
might wish to be spared; yet who ever heard of
any but the specious infidel Paine, urging that as a
reason for closing the sacred volumes against any
one ? And as to the other reason, the means of de-
tection, the useful warnings, and the numberless
other striking advantages which both justice and
the public derive from the publicity which free
access to Courts of Justice affords, so far out-ba-
lance any evils or disadvantages arising therefrom,
as to leave the matter scarcely a question, we should
imagine, in the mind of any reasonable man. But
after all, the advocates and opponents of this ques-
tion, are, in fact, fighting with a shadow, the clos-
ing of Courts of Justice being what no power on
earth can really accomplish. Proceedings before
Magistrates are most liable to abuse, and are abused
in workhouses in London, and in inns and private
parlours in the country; but still these abuses get
brought to light in some way or other, and the ex-
cluded Press keeps those in check who would fain
have the world think they are secure beyond its
reach. In the Coroner's Court nothing like se-
cresy can prevail. The three-and-twenty Jurymen
of whom the inquest is composed, are themselves so
many spectators and reporters, and through them
proceedings are sure to go forth to the world,though
not in quite so accurate a shape, perhaps, as they
otherwise would do. In fact, as long as hearing
and speaking exist, the effect of writing, printing,
and reading cannot be entirely got rid of.— Morn-
big Herald.

The proposed measures relati‘,, to the Corn
Laws have been so much the subject of discus-
sion, that we apprehend but little novelty can be
urged as regards the benefits likely to arise from
their adoption, and still less in defence of the
system which it is intended they should succeed ;
but if any proof were wanted to establish the ne-
cessity of a change, we need only instance the
transactions of the Corn Market during the
last week ; and the reflections they suggest, must,
we think, carry conviction to the minds of those
who yet believe in the efficacy of the laws now
in force. Under the present Act (3 Geo. IV.)
the quarterly averages are to be made up about
the middle of the months of May, August,
November, and February, respectively ; and on
the 15th of the present month it was found
that the price of Oats exceeded, by a fraction,
305., the sum at which they become admissible,
at a duty of 4d. ; and, in consequence, a Trea-
sury order was issued to that effect. This took
place on Friday, the 18th instant, but, owing to
some official forms, it could not be acted upon
until the Monday following ; and between that
time and last Friday, a period of five days, no
less a quantity than 140,000 quarters has been
admitted for home consumption, the average
weekly supply, of all descriptions, being about
20,000 quarters. The quantity thus brought
into the market must necessarily have a tendency
to depress the prices, and, under the proposed
laws, a reduction in price must be followed
by an advance in the duty, which
have the effect of checking excessive im-
portation, by rendering it less profitable ; but, as
the law at present exists, the ports must remain
open until the 15th of August next ; and, although
what is stated as to the bareness of the Continental
markets of this description of grain, is true, as re-
gards Prussia, Germany, Holland, &c., yet with
Russia such is by no means the case. On the con-
trary, we can confidently state, that between this
time and the periods when the ports will be closed
(should no alteration in the law take place in the
meanwhile) the quantity of oats, which will, in all
probability, be brought to this country from Riga,
Archangel, &c. will exceed 500,000 quarters, and
although the quality certainly is inferior, yet the de-
dine in the prices, which must be consequent on
such an importation, will be severely felt by those
farmers who look forward to an expected scarcity as
the only means of compensation for a deficient
harvest. Will any one, then, contend that there
exists no necessity for a change ?—New Times.

MEETINGS OF CREDITORS.
COUNTRY DIA RY.—SATtltna.v, Jt 2.
Charles, R. Liverpool—George, Liverpool
..7ohnson, T., Birmingham—Royal hotel, Birmingham l2
Lewis, L., Bridgnorth—Castle, Bridgnorth l2
Robinson, J., Derby—King's Head, Derby
Scott, G., Houghton—Queen's Head, Durham ll
Stroud, 'l'., Bath—Christopher inn, Bath
Trehern, T., Hereford—Greyhound, Hereford

A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS.—In
one of our southern counties, where there is a
larger supply of honour than cash, a gentleman,
who was rather hard in paying his debts, was ap-
plied to for a sum very little short of 5001. The
usual answer was given ; but the creditor de-
clared, that, from his own engagements, he would
not wait any longer. This elicited an answer,
which caused the applicant to apply a horse-whip
to the shoulders of his debtor. A hostile mes-
sage was sent ; but the gentleman, not wishing to
run the chance of being paid his debt by shooting
his antagonist, declined the honour until they
were on an equality. This obstacle being over-
come by the money being paid, the parties met,
and the creditor having received his adversary's
fire, the business terminated satisfactorily to
both—one having preserved his credit, the other
his honour.—Dublin Patriot.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, INFAv 29.

The Grand Jury found a true bill against Wm. Sheen
for murder.

Daniel Carr was indicted for assaulting the wife of a
soldier at Hounslow, who swore that the defendant, taking
advantage of the absence of her husband, who was in his
(defendant's) employment, took liberties with her person,
and throwing her on the bed was about to accomplish his
purpose, when her husband came to the door outside. She
had screamed out at first, but she made no noise when her
husband was heard outside the door, because she was
fainting. She admitted that she made no complaint of this
outrage until her husband left the employment of the de-
fendant, in about ten days after it had occurred, because,
she said "she was not able to go about." She drank tea,
however, with the defendant on the very next evening.—
Verdict, Not Guilty.

An officer of Worship-street, named Fitzpatrick, was
convicted of imprisoning a respectable man in the watch-
house all night, because, having a bundle of linen in hand,
which he was carrying from his washerwoman's late at
night, he was unable to say whether or not the articles
had say marks on them, and was also unable to tell the
number of his watch, which the defendant took from him.
It was in rain that the prosecutor referred him to a house
where he might inform himself satisfactorily as to who ar.d
what he was; the defendant refused to call there, and con-
sequently the prosecutor was compelled to spend t:e night
in the watch-house ; and so much did he suffer from the
cold, that the watch-house-keeper was actually com-
pelled to take him out to another place several times to
warm himself.

The CHAIRMAN expressed Lis regret to see the son of an
old and respected servant of the public conduct himself so
improperly. He deferred pronouncing judgment upon him
at present.

George Greir was indicted for feloniously receiving a
quantity of human hair, the property of Thomas Christian
Manley, a hair manufacturer, in Staples-inn, Holborn, well
knowing it to have been stolen. It was found in the pos-
session of the defendant, three days after the property was
stolen. He was found Guilty, and sentenced to six months'
imprisonment.