The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1845.

The Premier's remarkable faculty of saying sen-
tentious nothings with a gravity which almost disarms
the suspicion and mocks the experience of those who
hear him oftenest and know him best, has not often
been more strongly exemplified than in his answer, on
Thursday night last, to a question from Mr. MA-
CAULAY, on the subject of the Right lion. Baronet's
intentions w ith regard to the Small Note Circulation
of Scotland. That answer was the most elaborate
array of many words to conceal half a fraction of one
idea that we have ever seen in print. But we are
far from undervaluing Sir ROBERT'S ingenuity so
much as to imagine that this was an unartificial dis-
PlaY• On the contrary, we think it was a very able
mode of extricating himself out of the springe which
had been set to catch
him, unawares, at an answer.
It sounded, for the first stntencc or so, so like an
answer-about-to-be-given, that even Mr. 111ACAITLAY'S
extraordinarypowersandf quick perception may well
have been Staggered,
ionic fatiius illusion that
doar c two momenta, by the
ned before him, as if it
moments
were a reply. Two
of bewilderment
another
ltdheerrm eon
Order
r• e roef
enough. The Speaker calledon
the Day, and the cheat had vanisian,decould not berecalled. Yet we agree with ' N,
' ir of the
money article in the Times, that carefulobeserlation
of •
might detect, through the studied ambiguity
the
Premier's language, a foregone conclusion arrived at
touching "the doom" of the small bank-notes of
Scotland (and of Ireland). Like Mr. MACAULAY'S,
our present business is with the: Scotch circulation
only. Now we differ, lobo ccelo, from the Contempo.
rare we have just referred to, both in our estimate
of the value of the existing system on which that cir-
culation is based, and in the degree of apprehension
with which we regard the new experiment about to
be ventured upon by Sir ROBERT PEEL. It is really
to be regretted, in our opinion, that Sit' —OBERT has
no political prochaiit alai, who, in virtue of that rela-
tion to him, might apply for, and obtain from her
MAJESTY, or her MAJESTY'S Cabinet, an effective
inhibition, a controlling or restraining power, to
withheld him from damage and waste to the fortunes

‘"

'4

and interests of the empire:which have been-confided
to his keeping. It is to be feared, however, that
were Lord MELVILLE, or Sir GEORGE CLERK, or
Lord DUNFERMLINE, himself, even, on behalf of
themselves and all Scotland, as parties to their suit,
to bring such a plea to the foot of the throne, he
would be dismissed as not coming before it with
clean hands. The moneyed interest of Scotland has
weakened and damnified the powerful case it would
otherwise have to urge against being drugged by Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S nostrum through the fact of its having
been, if not a particeps criminis, an apathetic looker-on
when the same visitation was inflicted on the currency
of this country by his notorious " complement " of
the measure of 1819, last year. We assiduously
warned the Scottish people that their turn would
come next. The English nation has been operated upon,
and neither Scotland nor Irelanl, we are told, can
now escape the same fate. Thus it is that JUNIUS it
justified " what is fact to-day becomes preceden'
to-morrow." But our sympathies are still with Scot-
land in her coming trial ; and we expect her to offer
a firm, an unwavering, a "no-compromise," a com-
bined, cordial, sustained, and, therefore, triumphant
opposition to the mischievous meddling of our High
Tamworth Currency Doctor. Let the Scotch repre.
sentatives take warning by the listlessness, the indo-
lence, the infatuation, and the apathy of their English
colleagues ; show a firm front from the first day the
Premier displays his battle (the 14th inst.), and by
maintaining it unyielding, resolute, and prompt at
all times for action, they may be sure of vanquishing
a Minister whose progress has been at all times iden-
tified with concessions to principles that he has at
some former period or other loudly declaimed against.
We have, in several former articles, demonstrated
the unparalled advance—the steady, unfluctuating
improvement—of Scotland, in agricultural and manu-
facturing production—in the diffusion of competency
among the middling—and her demand for industrial
labour• for the lower—classes of her community ; in
the encouragement she has been hitherto enabled to
afford to a system of husbandry, the most enterpris-
ing, economical, and incessant—altogether, perhaps,
the most perfect—to be found in the world—and to
the corresponding scale in which the moral conduct
and education of her people have been raised. All
these important movements have been coincident with,
and in a main degree attributable to, that happy and
intelligible system of currency which she has now
enjoyed for about 150 years. That system has sur-
vived the shock of two great popular rebellions, many
wars, many adverse seasons. It was unmoved by,
and almost insensible to, the monetary earthquake of
1825-26, and utterly unscathed by later convulsions,
the sad evidences of the fatal empiricism which had
been practised here in 1819, and is once more in pesti-
lent activity in 1844 and 1845. Scotland was permitted
to retain her small bank-note circulation, whilst pri•
vate and commercial credit in this part of the kingdom
was paralyzed for want of such aid. Scotland
continued to advance in commercial importance,
in political weight, in social happiness, in
moral greatness ; for her steps in these noble
destinations were never impeded by the obstructive
fetters and golden manacles of an unexpar.sive, con-
tracted, costly, and unadaptable metallic currency.
The banking and monetary system of Scotland has
kept on in an unbroken march of improvement and
importance, extending to industry its fair wages, to
trade its fair markets and returns, to capital and pro-
perty the means of representation and evolution ; to
all mercantile dealings, security and confidence. In
England the reverse of such a system—a theoretical
fallacy forced into practical working by injudicious
Acts of Parliament—a gold standard currency, as it
is called—has cramped the energies of commerce, con-
tracted the representation, and taxed, in the most
arbitrary manner, the transfer of property and
capital, thrown doss n industrial wages below the
lowest subsistence scale, lowered the prices of our
highly-taxed products to the level of the quasi un-
taxed products of continental industry, sappi d our
commercial credit, largely impaired our manufactur-
ing superiority, and disorganized private credit to its
very foundations. It has accumulated capital in huge
masses in a few hands ; its inevitable tendency is to
preclude its distribution into the hands of the many.
These masses are unproductive, as to any of the
ordinary and legitimate branches of trade ; they are
all powerful in the faculty of accumulation when
embarked in the enormous operations of reckless
monopolies,—or unscrupuious gambling in public
funds and enterprises, native cr foreign. They are so
much of the specific volume of the life-blood of the
Commonwealth abstracted from its system, perhaps in-
fused into others,—never again transmitted, in healthy
action and regular distribution, through its own. Under
this PEEL system, certain classes, composing the cre-
ditor as well as the realised capital interest, are infi-
nitely benefited ; the other classes, comprising the
debtor and the industrial interest, are infinitely pre-
judiced. The annuitant, the fundholder, the mort-
gagee, being empowered and enabled to receive and pay
in gold at a fixed rate or standard of value, purchase
to the best advantage—that is, at gold or natural prices.
The debtor on an old mortgage, the manufacturer, the
artisan, the man who wants to convert property or
labour into money, buys this money at the dearest
price. The one to discharge his engagements, the
other to acquire his subsistence, pays in the first case
far more than he ever received on. account of them ;
in the second, far more than his reduced wages and
his heavy taxation make equitable or even tolerable.
Pauperism, therefore, increases throughout the radius
of our system ; the plethora of capital enlarges itself at
a few isolated spots within it. The extremities de-
cline and die; the centre preternaturally fattens and
corrupts. Domestic trade languishes, domestic in-
dustry declines from its twin-like connexion with
trade. The condition of the one necessarily
reacts upon the other. With a revenue
of fifty-four millions for the last year,
with a surplus, at the close of it, of income over ex
penditure of 3,356,0001., with an actual balance in
the Exchequer of 6,254,000/. on the 9th of January,
1815, we have scores of thousands of famishing, un-
employed artizans, with hundreds of thousands of
destitute paupers, and millions of pounds of annual
poor-rate to pay for their maintenance. This is so
under our present currency system, and the evil goes
on increasing. It wAs NOT so before Sir ROBERT
PEEL was permitted, in 1819, to put upon the statute
book his two-sided Bill—a Bill of infinite aggrandise-
ment to the private capitalist, of incalculable mischief
to the national welfare and resources. Let Scotland
regard this picture of our gold standard system and
its consequences ;—and contemplate, in contrast, that
hich exhibits her own happy and instructive history
under the system common to both countries, from
1797 to 1819. If she considers the gigantic efforts we
made under the latter, and the brilliant triumphs which
rewarded our confidence in it with the most signal
saccess and opulence ever recorded in history, and if
she will then look at our social declension and misery
since 1822, she will assuredly and firmly resist, and
cast from her the fatal millstone which the Premier is
obviously bent upon tying round her neck.

It is somewhat curious to observe in how different
a manner a French Ministry and an English Premier
regard the important business of providing, on the
coasts of the country whose affairs they respectively
preside over, harbours of refuge. A morning Con-
temporary very well observed, a day or two ago, on
this subject (to which it will he in the recollection of
our readers we have our.selves repeatedly entreated the
grave attention of the public), that
" The French Chambers have been discussing the pro-
priety of preparing fortified breakwaters to shelter
armed steamers upon that portion of their coast opposite
our shores, and have voted money for their erection;
whiie English Commissioners have recommended the
construction of harbours of refuge in our Channel,
wherein our mercantile marine may find protection from
the storm in peace, and fro-n hostile cruisers in war.
Each nation is acting wisely in its generation, for the
most effectual means to prevent war consist in pre-
parations for it."

strutting these harbours of refuge at various parts of
our extended coast-line, without delay. His Grace
demonstrated the very imminent jeopardy to which,
in the defect of such defences, the whole trade of this
metropolis and port, homeward or outward bound,
must always be subject in the estuary of the Thames,
in the event of hostilities with a Continental power.
About the m•►nth of August last, if we remember
rightly, his Grace again bore testimony to the
paramount importance of improving the port of
Dover to a very considerable extent, and converting
it into a harbour of refuge for the accommodation
•trd rendezvous of our steam navy, as well as of our
commercial marine. The report of the last Com-
mission, signed by professional authorities of such
minence as Admiral Sir BYAM MARTIN, G.C.8.;
I.dmiral DUNDAS j Mr. COLQUIIOUN, Captain WASH-
:NGTON ; the very celebrated Engineer, Mr. J.
tVaLKEn, &c., not only amply confirmed the judg-
nent and testimony of the Duke, but specified the
corks necessary to be executed, the site and the scale
won which they should be constructed, and the pro•
)ab:e amount at which their cost might be estimated.
But Sir ROBERT PEEL, who has not hesitated to
nffict upon the country the odious Income-tax, in
irder to maintain that dashing " surplus of Revenue,"
which all his hopes of political canonization now
:epose, is little inclined —it seems— to spare 2,500,000/.
''or a department of the pu'Jlic service from which he
•an secure so small an addition to the sum of his
Parliamentary influence, as the extension, strengthen-
ing, deepening, and improvement of Dover Harbour.
He could not conceal his irritation at being questioned
by the Member for Dover on so distasteful a subject.
Re—innocent man !—after his little apprenticeship
in official and public business of thirty years,—he
" really did not know by what means *he public got
access to documents which were not, for a time at
!east, intended to be circulated."
Between the two extremes of a galvanic telegraph
and the fast carts of the London Parcels Delivery
Company, Sir ROBERT cannot even figure to himself
;he possibility of a swift process of communication
between the penetralia of Downing-street, and the
sanctum sanctorwn of a London newspaper-office.
Re declared, with a grave face, that " He had not
*he slightest idea through what channel these docu-
ments were obtained, but somehow or other the news-
oapers continually managed to get hold of them."—
(A laugh.) He did not venture to say he had never
heard of such things being done in his time, but
" He could only regret that a document which had
been confidentially prepared for the Government alone
should have been published to the world." With all
respect for Sir ROBERT, this species of red-tape
prudery is very unworthy of him. The French
Government do not appear so nervously sensitive on
such subjects. They know, very well, that such
affairs cannot be gone into, now-a-days, without a
certain peril of publicity, however much publicity,
under many conditions of circumstances, may be to
be deprecated. But for an English Prime Minister,
in 1845, to talk as if he " really " expected that a
document which must have been to some extent with-
in the cognisance of many Members of Parliament,
not Members of the Government, could be withheld
for any length of time from the knowledge of the pub-
lic,—of that constituency which now exercises so
much vigilance over, and requires so much vigilance
from, its representatives—is foolish affectation. But
now let us see how the Minister of the greatest nation
of Europe, the most extensive maritime power in the
world, can balance, hesitate, and finally sit down
" promising nothing—doing nothing—hoping no-
thing,"—when the amount of the cost is set against
the construction of public works pronounced by the
highest military, naval, and civil authorities in the
-mpire to be indispensable to our preservation, our in-
dependence, our honour, our existence. In the first
place, the report, is " really " found to be worthy of
every consideration. But then—nothing has been
done, nor seems likely to be done, in consequence of it.
"In answer to the Hon. Gentleman's question, he
could assure him that the report had occupied the most
serious attention of her Majesty's Ministers. To the
opinions of the wry distinguished officers who had
formed that Commission great weight would naturally be
attached."
We should hardly think Mr. RICE, or his Dover
friends, will attach much value to so very
pccific an undertaking as this :—" And the Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. RICE) might depend upon it, that
a subject of such vast national importance should
not fail to receive the most anxious consideration
upon the part of her Majesty's Government." For
what is Sir ROBERT'S own view of the probabilities
that any practical result will follow ? Just the most
unfavourable one that can be imagined. The notion
of an expenditure that will knock down his financial
surplus, despite of the income-tax screw for raiing it
to the highest attainable pitch, drives him into ecsta-
cies of economical alarms, that are as pathetic as if
they came from WINIFRED JENKrNs. "At the same
time, he (Sir R. PEEL) felt that the cost of carrying
out their recommendations would be very great in-
deed. Take, for instance, the case of Dover alone,
there would be a sum required of not less than
2,500,000/."
So, again :

" In measures of such vast importance, and involving
such a very large outlay of money, the greatest conside-
ration was necessary on the part of the Executive. The
Commissioners had divided their recommendations into
classes, in which they stated that the carrying out of
their suggestions as to Dover stood first, Portland
second, Seaford third. They then gave a general esti-
mate of expense, which, however, could not be entirely
relied upon, and which, as he had before stated, would
require for Dover alone no less a sum than 2,500,0001.
The experience of the expense already incurred at Holy-
head would cause him (Sir R. Peel) to be sure of his
expenses before he entered upon any important works of
the kind ; but inquiries were still being pursued."
Now, let it be observed, in all this, not a word to
impugn the vital, national, urgent, paramount ne•
cessity for those new defences and this harbour of re-
fuge at Dover. Only the expense of 2,500,000/.
a Prime Minister cannot get over that. He feels it
is incumbent upon him to experience a sort of choking
at the bare idea. " The experience derived from the
cost already incurred at Holyhead is a warning to
him." He will not, off-hand, engage in any more
costly public works. And so he throws overboard,
naming no day for taking them in again—holding
out no hope of ever doing anything for them at all
—Dover, Seaford, Portland, in succession. And
what then ? Why, with an inconsistency, a violation
of prii.ciples and pledges announced but the moment
before—absolutely startling even in Sir ROBERT PEEL
—he coolly announces, as to that " Holyhead," the
charges already paid for which have taught him the
frugal severity he has been so didactic upon when
other ports were in question.—" Now, with respect to
one of the ports mentioned by the Commissioners—
he meant llolyhead—the recommendations made by
them would be at once carried into efect, for the im-
portance of the intercourse between Ireland and this
country required that this should be the case.—(Hear,
hear.) But upon the other recommendations of the
report, Government had not yet come to any decision."
The mot de l'enigme is too evident here, and the
mystery of Sir ROBERT'S non sequitur is solved at
a glance. "Ireland has been always my greatest
difficulty," said he, on a memorable occasion, a long
time ago. So she is still. Sir ROBERT cannot open
the Exchequer to make Dover what it ought to be
for the salvation of this country, in the event of hos-
tilities with France, which may break out at any
moment ; but he will do so at once to curry favour
with his Irish supporters and the Irish people at large.
No portion of the English press has more consistently
or ardently vindicated the just claims and rights of
the Irish people than our own journal; but we pro-
test against postponing, sine die, the national works
essential at Dover, to the further improvement of
Holyhead, at a vast expense, in addition to the im-
moderate sums already devoted to it, and on the
Minister's single plea of the superior importance of
still further facilitating the communication between
England and Ireland. Is it the simple fact that he
wishes to propitiate Irish support on the one hand, and
prefers the Holyhead works because they will so much
less diminish his surplus than the Dover works, on
the other ? In our opinion he has seldom more egre-
giously or palpably committed himself; and we trust
and hope that Parliament will insist on the recom-
mendations of the Committee's Report in favour of
Dover being fully, promptly, and honestly carried
into effect.

Sir ROBERT PEEL, if we may judge of his in-
tentions on the subject from a speech which he de-
livered on 'Wednesday evening, has not yet made up
his mind on any one point enforced in the report of
his own Commissioners. The French Chambers, we
see, have already voted the money for the new break-
waters and forts that are called for by similar
exigencies on their part, to those on our's which gave
rise to the Commission, of whose labours we lately
published the very valuable results.

So long ago as the spring or summer of 1843, the Duke
of 'IrELLINGTON had impressed upon a Parliamentary
Committee, in his emphatic way, the very great urgency
of erecting block houses and other fortified posts,
more particularly on our southern shores, and of con-

Madrid journals of the Ist inst. have been received.
The return of CASTELLO-T-AYENSA, the Spanish en-
voy at Rome, had created some surprise in the capi-
tal, as it was generally believed he had failed in his
mission to procure the POPE'S acknowledgment of

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THE SL N, LONDON. MON - - -

Queen ISABELLA. This, it appears, is to a certain
extent true, as the Court of Rome, before the recog-
❑ition, demands that all the unsold Church lands shall
be restored to the clergy. The envoy not having
powers to that extent, has returned for instructions,
and will again proceed to Rime in a fortnight.
CANTER°, formerly Minis:er of Finance, had returned
to Madrid.

On the Ist inst. the Three per Cent 3. closed at 33
for cash, and 33i for GO days; the Five per Cents. at
24 at 60 days, and the Coupons at 26 for the 28th
of March.

The Paris papers are occupied with some curious
discussions and results in the Chamber of Deputies,
and with remarks on the debates in the English Par-
liament on the QUEEN'S Speech. The old saying,
"They manage affairs differently in France" was
never better, nor more ludicrously illustrated than
on a motion brought forward in the Chamber of De-
puties on the 6th. M. LHERBETTE introduced a etill
relative to the appointment of public functionaries,
the object of which is thus stated in the first clause—
that "no person should be admitted into a Govern•
ment situation unless he had proved his fitness to fill
it by a special or public examination, a diploma in
one of the faculties, or a contours, the form of exa-
mination being decided by royal ordinance.''
After a brief discussion this clause was adopted
by a large majority, and the four remain-
ing clauses received equal support, yet when
the question was put, that the Bill be
adopted, and the sense of the House was taken by
ballot, the majority was converted into a minority—
there being for the Bill, 157, and against, 156 ; ma •
jority against it, 1. The Bill consequently was lost.
The result excited some sensation in the Chamber
next day. M. ST. PRIEST brought forward his mo-
tion for the reduction of postage on letters, and the
result was equally remarkable. Ile proposed to fix,
from January 1, 1846, a uniform tax of six sous for
all letters carried more than forty kilometres (about
twenty-five English miles), and four sous for all
shorter distances. M. MoNIER DE LA SIZERANNE
proposed as an amendment that the postage of all
letters act weighing more than a quarter of an ounce,
for whatever distance, should be only four sous. After
a discussion, in which this amendment was strongly
opposed by the Minister of Finance, the Chamber
adopted it by a majority of one, the numbers being
130 to 129. On Saturday the discussion was resumed,
and the two remaining clauses were adopted, but when
the whole Bill was tested by the ballot, it was also
rejected, the numbers for it being 170, and against
170, and as an absolute majority of 171 was required,
the President announced that the Bill was lost. On
the same day Colonel DE BRICQUEVILLE moved that
the remains of General BERTRAND be laid near those
of NAPOLEON, in the Hotel des Invalides. The mo-
tion was unanimously agreed to, with the addition
that those of Duaoc should be equally honoured.
We find little of interest in the remarks of the lepers
on the debates in Parliament, though the contrast
between those of the Ministerial and Opposition jour-
nals is curious. The Journal des Debats says:—" It
is with as much astonishment as regret that we see
a man so enlightened and so high-minded as Lord J.
RUSSELL employing his talents and influence in de-
preciating the work of peace so happily accomplished
by the two Governments. It has been generally re-
marked that his speech was steepsd in bitterness to a
degree altogether unusual with him. The leader of
the Opposition did not, it is true, condemn the con-
clusion of the Otaheite affe!r, and joined with the rest
of the world in rejoicing at the preservation of peace,
but he severely criticised the manner in which the
negotiations were conducted, and the appointment of
Commissioners for revising the treaties on the right of
search. Sir R. PEEL gave a most complete answer to
this attack; he called upon Lord J. RUSSELL to make
specific motions on which the House might categorically
declare its sentiments on both questions. The papers
relating to the right of search were to be laid before
the House on Wednesday, and therefore it is probable
that a day will be fixed for discussing this question.
We cannot, naturally, express any surprise at the
language of Lord PALMERSTON. All that the Oppo-
sition here has urged against M. GuizoT was even
more acrimoniously advanced by him against Lord
Aberdeen. his Lordship attempted to prove that
England had been outraged and humiliated, as M.
BILLAULT and others have endeavoured to establish
that France has been outraged and humiliated—and
with just h
doiiotsv
as
ishevaeraunto.
the success
ourselves of the accusations laid by Lord PAL-
MERSTON against e same
the
British W
Government,e
ments in favour of the value of the results obtained
by the French Government. Neither of the two
Cabinets wishes to triumph over the other. Both
have accomplished in concert an honourable task ;
both have made secondary considerations subordinate
to the great and permanent interests of the general
peace and civilization ; and each of the simultaneous
attacks, of which both have been objects, reciprocally
destroys the other."
The Constilutionnel, on the other hand, pays the
Opposition a high compliment. "The speakers," it
says, " and principally those of the Whig Opposition,
express themselves in terms most honourable to the
French nation, and the political parties into which
our Chambers are divided. We have not found in
one of their speeches any of those stale calumnies that
used to be cast upon the pretended war party.
Henceforth in England, as well as in France, the
mal-address and weaknesses of M. GUIZOT may be
condemned, without driving the two countries into a
war with each other. The high-toned speech with
which M. TIIIERS opened in our Chamber the debate
on the Address, has exercised a happy influence on both
sides of the Channel.; he enlightened the statesmen,
and silenced the declaimers."

not entrusted with the franchise for their own benefit or the
benefit of their landlords or employers, but for the good of
the whole community.
_

Having just seen a list of so many electors pledged to my
Honourable Friend and opponent, and being convinced that
it would require a larger sum of money to contest the Divi-
sion than a candidate shauld be called on to expend at any
time, and particularly towards the close of a Parliaaicir., T at
once withdraw fr,m the contest, retitimin; my vv.trin,!A
thanks to the gentlemen and yeomen who have so zealauki
interested themselves in our common cause, and remaining
ever, Gentlemen, your faithful friend,
W. L. SALLISBITRY TRELAWNY.
Harewood, Saturday, Feb. 8, 1845.

NATIONAL DEBT.--Accounts have just been issued
from the National Debt• office, showing the results of
operations undertaken from 1822 to 1844, for re-
ducing the charge on the debt, and the terms on
which the reduction has been made. The total an-
nual interest saved during that period amounts to
3,051,8001. Also, accounts of thuunredeemed public
debt, from 1817 to 1844, and the amount of un-
funded debt in Exchequer -bills, from which it appears
that in 1817 the capital of the unredeemed Funded
Debt was 796,200,191/., and the enntutl charge
29,842,014/ ; while in 1844 the former was
772,169,0921., and the latter 28,516,882/. The
amount of capital in Exchequer•hills in 1817 was
44,650,3001., and the interest 2,173,9271., while in
1844 they were respectively 18,407,300/., and
594,0511.

We have this week to record the death of Mr. Andrew
Franklin, of Tavistock-street, Covent-garden, in his 90th
year.. Near seventy years since Mr. Franklin com-
menced his literary labours in connexion with the Morn-
ing Post newspaper. and subsequently joined the Morning
Advertiser, where he continued till old age compelled
him, a few years since, to relinquish his editorial duties
and retire into private life, taking with him the respect
and esteem of all who had the pleasure of his acquaint-
ance.

FALL OF Show.—The weather within the last few
days has been excessively cold. For several nights the
thermometer has been many degrees below freezin?, and
on Sunday morning it had fallen to 21. In the course
of last night there was a fall of snow which covered the
ground for several inches in depth. The temperature is
now more mild, but it still snows heavily, with an ap-
pearance of continuance.

THIS DAY'S NEWS.

CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR sat in Lincoln's Inn• hall to-day,
and took motions, it being the first seal after Hilary Term.
This was the first day of his Lordship's sittings since the
last day of term.

1710GARTII'S PICTURE OF PAUL BEFORE FESTUS.
This invaluable painting, by that great master Hogarth,
and which has adorned Lincoln's Inn-hall for so many years,
has been removed from its long resting-.place over the judg-
ment-seat, in order to be placed up in the New Hall now in
the course of erection, and very near its completion.
The Lord Chancellor took his seat shortly after eleven
o'clock.

LN THE CASE OF FRANK, A LUNATIC.
This case stood on the paper to-day to be spoke to in the
minutes. The case came before the Court sometime since
upon petition, praying that a certain sum that had been paid
might be reimbursed, in order to satisfy a solicitor's bill.
On the case coming on, the Court pronounced its order, but
the parties not agreeing as to the minutes of the order, it
stood on the paper to be spoke to to-day. After some short
discussion, the Court finally settled the decree.

HILLS v. CROLE.

Mr. WAKEFIELD replied to-day in this part-heard appeal
motion, and

The LORD CILINCELLOR postponed his judgment.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(T-iIS DAY.)
(Sittings in Banco after Term.)
THE BARON DE BODE V. THE QUEEN.

The arguments in this case were resumed this morning by
Mr. Kelly, who, on the part of the Crown, contended that
there was not a single instance to be found in which a petition
of right was brought against the Crown for a pecuniary de-
mand—that such a form of proceeding could only be had re-
course to in the case of land or land and chattels, and that,
!yen supposing a petition of riglist wee the proper remedy,
it could not be brought for unliquidated damages.
There was no probability of the case being brought to a
conclusion to-day.

EXCHEQUER.--(THIS DAY.)
(Before the Lord CHIEIe BARON and a Special Jury.)
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. REILLY.

This was an information filed by the Attorney-General to
recover penalties alleged to have been incurred by removing
goods on which the duty had not been paid at the Custom-
house, and by fraudulently collusion for that purpose with
the importer and the servants of the wharfinger. Theinfor-
mation contained four counts.

The Solicitor-General, Mr. Jervis. and Mr Wilde appeared
for the plaintiff, and Mr. Humfrey for the defendant.
It appeared from the evidence for the prosecution that the
defendant, being a carman, was in the habit of carting
goods for Messrs. Cordingley and Co , importers of silks
and French goods, in Paternoster-x.(lv. When Messrs.
Cordingley intended their goods to
_pay duty, they
were in the habit of marking them U C, on other
occasions they marked them AK. In October, 1840, the
defendant brought a bill of lading to a persen named Goold,
an agent for him, to pass the sight entry for some goods im-
ported in the name of Madame Metzler, by the City of Bou-
logne steamer, from Boulogne. Mr.Goold not being a licensed
agent, employed a Mr. Arnott to do it for him, and through these
parties the goods were passed. The defendant was seen to be
interfere in the transaction through all its stages, in the sight
en:ry, the perfect entry, the landing, and the payment of the
duty. The main feature of the fraud in question was, that a
large cane, occupying 26 feet, and containing two cases,
having been landed, the larger one was set aside and the
smaller one only brought forward to be charged with duty.
The single penalty for which the Crown went was 772/. 16s.
The case was proceeding when we went to press.

COMMON PLEAS.-(THIS DAY.)
(Sittings at Nisi Prins.)
Three special jury cases, and one common jury case of no
importance, were disposed of in little more than an hour, and
the Court rose at half•past eleven o'clock.

The France thus animadverts on the inconsistency
exhibited by the Chamber of Deputies on two im-
portant propositions :
" We proceed from astonishment to astonishment, and the
representative government is a see-saw which an atom
causes to incline now to one side, and again to the other.
The day before yesterday, the proposition relative to func-
tionaries was rejected by a majority of one ; and, yesterday,
post-office reform, contained in an amendment of M. Monier
de la Sizeranne, was adopted by a majority of one.
Perhaps to-day another ballot will abolish that of yes-
terday. We are in the reign of the half minus one,
and this one, which gives the law, can at its
pleasure overturn Ministries, and adopt or reject
propositions. There may be in the Chamber thus divided,
a man, an unknown, as powerful as Bonaparte and the Com-
mittee of public safety. The Chamber cannot any longer,
after these two days, proceed seriously. Votes and ballots
are nothing more than a mystification. What. ought to
be the value of those reforms adopted or rejected by a ma-
jority of one ? Propositions are incomplete, ill-combined,
and they prove abortive ; the Chamber is floating, unde-
cided, and weary, before it has fought. Is it the fault of the
Chamber ? Is it the fault of the propositions ? How is
this hesitating, irresolute position to be got out of ? By a
dissolution of the Chamber, or a Ministerial crisis. The
first means appears to us alone to possess any efficacy."

CRIMINAL COURT.-THIS DAY.)

OLD COUR7.

PERJURY.—Williana A. Kennett, a young man of gentle-
manly appearance, was indicted for perjury.
Mr. Doane was for the prosecution; Mr. Clarkson, with
Mr. Bodkin, appeared fur the defence.
The evidence in the case showed that the defendant's bro-
ther and another person were connected with a Loan Society
in St. Pancras, to which one James Potter acted in the ca-
pacity of secretary. On the 30th of February last year, a
person named Watts applied for a loan of 304 and produced
as security two men, Spriggins and Adams. The propietors
of the Society objected to the security produced, and a third
name, White, was mentioned. The two first-named
securities, and the principal, Watts, signed that night,
and the secretary being incapable, either from ab-
sence or intoxication, of witnessing the signature, the de-
fendant signed the bill. On the succeeding day White
signed, and the money was handed over to Watts. The re-
payments to this society not having been kept up, an action
was brought in the Sheriff's Court, and the defendant having
there sworn that he had seen Watts sign his name, it was
alleged that in taking this oath he had been guilty of perjury.
The jury were ably addressed by Mr. Clarkson, who called
a number of witnesses, and they gave the defendant a first-
rate character.

One witness, White, the third security, was called on the
part of the prosecution, to prove that the name of Watts was
not upon the bill when his (White's) was appended. The
witness on his cross-examination, however, contradicted him-
self in every important particular.
Mr. CLARKSON (to the jury)—Can you credit this
witness; and yet it is upon such evidence that it is sought to
ruin the character of the young man standing before you.
The Learned Counsel made some further observations having
reference to the last witness, when he, in a state of great ex-
citement, again re-entered the witness-box.
Witness—What is that you say, Sir? lamto be believed
on my oath—believed before you, Sir.
Mr. CLAnksox continued, though frequently interrupted,
to address the jury, but his remarks were of so bitingly
sarcastic a character, that the wrath of the unfortunate
listener in the box fairly exploded, by his giving the Learned
Counsel the lie direct.

The RECORDER severely reprimanded him, and said, that
in the event of such another indiscretion, he should be com-
mitted to prison. The Recorder then summed up, and
The jury at once returned a verdict of Not Guilty, and
said that Mr. Kennett's character was wholly unimpeached.

VICE-CHANCERY.—(THIS DAY.)
(Before the VICE-CHANCELLOR of ENGLAND.)
This being the first seal aftet Hilary Term, his Honour the
Vice-Chancellor of England took motions to day, none of
which possessed any points of interest to the public.