The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-23 00:00:00

RIVERS (IRELAND) BILL—In the Committee.
Tenth Clause (Meeting of Landholders to be convened to am.
point a valuation in curtain cases) :—Question put, " That the

Clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill

. .
:"—The Committee

divided :

- -
riiAJORIT Y-AYES,
Acland, Sir T. I) Eliot, Lord
Allix, John Peter Fuller, A. E.
Baskerville, T. B. M. Henley, J. Warner
Berna,d, Viscount Howard, P. H.
Broadley, H. Hughes, W. B.
Brotherton, J. Hutt, W.
Charteris, Hon F. Jackson, Serjeant
Colville; C. It. Lefroy, Anthony
Courtenay, Viscount Lincoln, Earl of
Cripps, W. Mainwaring, T.
i)arby, George Mesterman, John
Dickinson, k. H. Miles, P. S.

33.
Mile:, W.
Mundy, E. Miller
Noireys, Sir D. J.
Plun;ptre. J. P.
Hashieigh, Wm.
ltushbrook, Colonel
Stuart, H.
Sutton, Hon. h. M
Vere, Sir C B.

TELLERS.
Young, John
Pringle, A.

AIINORIT
Ferguson, Sir Robert
O'Connell, M. J.
O'Ferrall, It. M.
Wyse, Thomas

--NOES,

Redin;
Blake,

TELLERS.
)gton, T. N.

Martin

GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND RAILWAY.
Traffic returns fur the week ending June 18, 1842 :
Passengers
Merchandise • 3OO 6 5

I)arlington, June 22.

£1,239 13 11
W. O'BRIEN, Secretary.

THE COLNAGE.-PIX JURY

A Privy Council was held }esterday, at the office of the
Comptroller-General of her Majesty's Exchequer, for the pur-
pose of empanelling a Jury of twenty-four members of the
Goldsmith's Company, to assay the gold and silver coins of the
realm.

'I he Lords of the Council present were—the Lord Chancel.
lor, Lord Mootnagle, the Duke of Buecleuch, Lord Wharn-
clifie, Lord Vesci and Fitzgerald, Lord Bexley, the Right Hon.
Wm. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir H.
Hardinge.
The origin of an inquiry of this nature bears date so far back
as the 18th year of the reign of Edward 111.
Several ladies were present to witness the proceedings.
The names of the Jury having been called over, and a fore-
man appointed, _

The. LORD CHANCELLOR addressed them to the following
effect.—Gentlemen of the Jury, you have assembled here this
day, agreeably to, and in accordance with, a very ancient
custom, which is termed a trial of pix, or, in other words, to
try the quality and weight of gold and silver lately coined at
her Majesty's Mint. It will be your duty to ascertain whether
the coinage corresponds with the standard required by law.
The oa.h that has been administered points out your duties
and obligations to the Crown, the public, and the Master of
the Mint.. The Noble and Learned Lord then said, that the
Mint indenture of February 6. 1817 (which was still in force),
made it imperative that 46 29-40 sovereigns should be coined
to the pound weight troy, of the standard of twenty-two carats
of fine gold and two. carats of alloy. With respect to the silver
coinage, it was ordered by the indenture to which he had re-
ferred, (dated in 1817), that all silver moneys coined should
be after the rate of sixty-six shillings the pound troy, of
the standard of eleven ounces two dwts. of fine silver, and
I eighteen dwts. of alloy. the same standard was required for
gold and silver coined for the West Indies—that coinage must
correspond with the coin of the British realm. His Lordship
proceeded to say that trifling accidents, trifling deviations must
lat times occur. It was impossible that, in all instances, the
coin could exactly correspond with the standard, and therefore,
when an inquiry of that nature was first instituted, a provision
had been made to meet any case Of trifling deficiency. Wi,h
respect to gold, twelve grains were allowed in every Found
troy. In silver, one dwt. in every pound troy. If no greater
.deficiency than what he had stated took place in a new coinage,
it was allowed, but if there was a greater deficiency, the Master
of the Mint must render an account to the Crown, for he was
responsible. If, on the other hand, there should lie an excess
' in the weight, the Master of the Mint was entitled to receive
it ; and further, if the coin was wrong, it was imperative on
the Master of the Mint to recoin it at his own expense, in a
proper form and manner, agreeably to the pleasure of the
Crown. This was not the first time he (the Lord Chan-
(senor) had had an opportunity of addressing a jury assembled
for a similar inquiry. The question they had to determine was,
whether the late gold and silver coinages were correct at the
time they were issued, and they would he found so he had no
doubt. He believed in no instance within the memory of man,
in no instance since that inquiry was first instituted in the reign
of Edward the Third, had there ever been a deviation which ex-
ceeded the limits. On the last occasion of a Pix Jury assem-
bling, their verdict was that the ccin was correct, but it fol-
lowed as a matter of course that the current coin must be in
some degree altered by wear and time. On the present occa-
sion they were met to ascertain if the Master of the Mint had
done his duty to the Crown and the public. With respect
to both the Crown and the public, it was most important to
ascertain if the different coins, when they were issued, cor-
responded with the standard required by law. At an early
period—in the reign of Edward the Third—two plates, one
of silver the other of gold, were made, and they were called
"trial plates," and would be produced before the jury. Those
plates were kept and secured in an iron chest in Westminster
Abbey; that cheat had three locks, -the keys of which were
in the custody of three different public officers, and they were
only removed on occasions like the present, when it was in-
tended to have a new coinage. The box in which these plates
and coins were deposited was only opened when it was her
Majesty's pleasure to direct an inquiry like the present. It
would then be their duty to take a piece of the trial pla'es
and an exactly equal quantity of the coin of the realm, and
alter assaying, ants making them into ingots, to see if they
corresponded. 'llse assay would take place in their preycnce,
in a room attached to that office, in which a furnace and the
necessary apparatus bad been prepared. It was their bounden,
their important duty, to see, and rightly ascertain, whether
tl.e coinage, at the time it was issued from the Mint, exactly
corresponded with the required standard ; and if they
should find that it did not, if they were of opinion that
it deviated to an extent not sanctioned by law, it was
their dsity to say so, by the verdict which they would have to
return to the Lords of the Council. The process would be
carried on in their presence ; and on this particular occasion,
said his Lordship, place no confidence in the honour or integrity
of the Master of the Mint: you have an important, a solemn
duty to perform—important to the Crown, and especially im-
portant to the public. He had no doubt the gentlemen he was
addressing would do their duty satisfactorily. When the trial
was over he would receive their verdict, and direct that it
should be recorded in the usual form.

The Foreman of the Jury suggested that the verdict should
be received that afternoon in the private room of the House of
Lords, or at his Lordship's residence in Great George-street,
Hanover-square.
The. Lortr, CHANCELLOR—If you are prepared, I will receive
your verdict in my private room at the House of Lords, at a
quarter before four o'clock ; after that time at my residence in
George-street.
Their Lordships were invited to dine at Goldsmiths' Hall in
the evening, it being the usual custom of that wealthy Com-
pany to give a splendid banquet upon occasions like the present,
wh:eli only occur once in the course of several years.
During the short time Mr. Abercrombie was Master of the
Mint, the silver coinage in threepenny, twopenny, and three-
halfpenny pieces for the service of the West India colonies,
amounted to the total value of 10,0151. 10s.

The amount of gold coined during the time Mr. Labouchc►re
was Master of the Mint, amounted to 6,400,5461.
Silver coin during the same period, 1,399,5031. 12s.
For circulation in the West India colonies, 71,0161.
Since Mr. Gladstone has been appointed " Master and
Worker" of her Majesty's Mint, the total value of gold coined
is 384,069/. ; silver coin, value 40,5901.

After the address of the Lord Chancellor, the Jury retired
to make the necessary assay of the coins which had been given
to them, and the Council adjourned.

. Her Majesty will give a concert of vocal and in-
strumental music to.morrow (Friday) evening, at Buckingham
Palace, fog which invitations on a limited scale have been
issued. The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
King and Queen of the Belgians and suite, will leave town
this afternoon, to honour the Duke and Duchess of Buceleueh
with their company, at Queensberry Villa, Richmon3.
HOD lIOUSE AND 00.1 S BANKRUPTCY.—..The ar-
rangement made for the paying of dividends has worked so ex-
ceedingly well as to have enabled the ac.ignees iv pay upwards
of 50,0001. to WOO crnditorirwltailt aquae.