Star.
London, England, 1829-12-15 00:00:00

THE HISTORY of the ONE-POUND NOTES.

TO THE TRADF.SNIEN OF PLYMOUTH,
DEVONPORT, AND STONEHOUSE.
Gentassitsx--in giving the history of the One-pound Notes,
I shall confine my observations to those which were hatted by the
Bank of England, it being useless to say more respecting the one-
pound notes of country bankers than that they generally rose or
fell in value, increased or decreased in quantity, and operated on
dealings between man and man, in a similar manner to those of
the Bank of England.
One.pouod Bank-notes appeared first in the year 1797. In the
month of January of that year there was great alum throughout
the kingdom, from an unexpected invasion by the French army,
and the people very naturally thought that funded property and
Bank-notes might not be so good as gold, should the French land
in England. Acting on this opinion, those who possessed funded
property commenced selling, and those who held Bank-notes peal
Dented them for payment in gold. In February following a body
of French troops (1,200 in number) landed at Regard, in Wale.,
and were.sll taken prisoners; but this circumstance augmented the
general alarm, caused the run on the Bank to increase at a tre-
mendous rate, and, on Monday the 27th of February, the Bank of
Ragland stopped payment! " What! the Bank of England stop
payment !—VII false, 'de Impossible ; the Bank never did nor Dever
will stop payment." Something like this will be said or thought
by almost every one who will read this letter; but as I proceed,
it will be discovered that I am right.
On Friday, the 24th of February, the Directors of the Bank,
greatly alarmed by the run, sent a deputation to Mr. Pitt (at that
time Chancellor of she Exchequer and Prime Minister,) requesting
him to interfae ; and he promised them his protection. On Sa-
turday, the 25th, the run continued with unabated vigour. On
Sunday, the 28th, in spite of the 4th Commandment! an Order in
Council was passed requiring the Bank to forbear issuing gold in
payment of their notes until the sense of Parliament should be
taken upon the subject. On Monday, the 271 k. long before the
hour of business, an immense crowd assembled round the door of
the Bank in order to get geld for the notes they held ; on the door/
being opened, in they rushed—but, instead of gold, they received a
copy of the Order in Council.
Here, then, was a Banking Company refusing to give gold for
their promissory notes, payable on demand to the bearer : .Was
this stopping payment, or was it not ? Surely you will say "It
was ;' But why did the Bank stop payment? Simply because
they bad not sufficient gold to pay their notes, as was stated to Mr.
Pitt by the deputation which waited on him on the 24th. What
made Mr. Pitt so very affectionate towards the Bank? Why, be-
cause the Government owed the Bank eleven millions sterling,
not one farthing of which has yet been paid.
On the 3d of March following an Act was passed, authorising
the Bank to issue notes foe sums less than five pounds, and forth
came the one and two-pound notes. On the 9th of May another
Act was passed, sanctioning what bad been done by the Privy
Council and the Bank Directors, authorising Collectors of the
Revenue to receive Bank-notes, and permitting the Bank to con-
done to refuse paying their notes in gold until the 24th'June fol-
lowing. This last was called" The Bank Restriction Act," and,
although it only extended to the 24th June of the same year in
which it was passed, yet, from repeated renewals, the Bank did not
issue gold before the year 1818.
" A very seasonable extension," says it, "to the circulating
medibm of the country. without any possible public injury, and
we think without loss to the revenue, might be given by reducing
the charge for bill stamps on small sums. At present a bill for any
sum between two pounds and five guineas requires a ls. stamp ;
from five guineas to X2O, a ls. 64. one; and from .610 to £3O, a
95. stamp. Now if the stamp from iet to £lO was ad. and from
£lO to 420.9.3. with a ls. stamp from £2O to £3O, a great m-ny
more small bills would be drawn. and the scarcity d money
occasioned by the withdrawal of the ft notes greatly relieved.—
Before the passing of the Bank Restriction Act in 1797, a bill
stamp fur the highest sum was only charged two ; and
for any sum between £2 and £3O only 6d. Of late year+, since tbr
stamps have been raised and altered, and the law respecting
cheques altered, the number of bills drawn by the bankers has
been very much diminished—as much as 1,200 per cent. upon the
present number ; so that, while, in the year 11102, there were
drawn by the three Leeds banks no fewer than 71,000 bills, the
number drawn by them in the year 1828 amounted only to about
6,000, though the trade of the town In the mean time has greatly
increased. It is proper to add. however, that there are many more
bills drawn by private individuals now than formerly, but it would
tied very greatly to the security of trade if there were more bank-
ers' bilis, and fewer private ones; and a judicious reduction in the

And you have for your note. ..

which is one-fourth more than you could purchase with your pound
note in 1213. This clearly shows that paper, compared with gold,
was not worth more than about ISi. in the pound in that year ;
and, on referring to the table, you will see it marked 141.5 d. The
same method of calculation wilt bold good in regard to any other
year mentioned in the table, by brat finding the reputed value of
the guinea.—l am, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant,
Plymouth.

B. DENSHAII.
GERMAN PAPERS.
SMYRNA, On. 25.
For the last fortnight public attendants, been strongly excited
by the insurrection which was said to have broken out in the in-
terior of Natoli,. and the rapid progress of hbich was plated in
exaggerated colours. Though we have hitherto retrained front
speaking of this affair, to which circumstances give the greatest im-
portance, we have collected the most accurate information, which
enables us to describe it as it really is. The Insurrection, if this name
may be given it, is confined to the province of Alan Gnselissar, in
which only one district, that of Rodenrisch, refund to join it. The
inhabitants of this district, satisfied with the administrafo t of their
Aga, informed the insurgents that they would not receive them,
and threatened to oppose them by fence if they should, notwith-
standing this notice, show thent.elves among them. The inha-
bitants of the other districts, on the contrary, incensed at the op-
pression and extortion of the Government, and resol-ed to repel
force by force, called to their aid a chief of the Zeybecks (irregular
mountain troops). who at present commands about 1,000 men, and
placed him in'a manner at the bead of this insurrection. Wherever
be appeared he moved without blood-bed the existing authoritit s,
protested indeed his obedience to the Government of the Sultan,
and his respect fur his person, but announced the abolition of the
new taxes, and the ample execution of the new firman relative t
the levy of taxes issued two years ago. This firman enjoined
the Governors and Agas, with threats of seem punishment, to
treat the people with mildness and justice 9 and to confine them -
selves to demanding the taxes(tithes)imposed by preceding firmans.
This is in general the substance of the demands of this province.
which has put itself, as it were, under the protection of this
chief, making him :he organ of its complaints. But this chief has
already shined his power, and demands form the rich .inbabitat ts
more titan these moderate taxes, for exceeding which he reproaches
the authorities. Some districts already murmur against lint.—
The Government, which seems to have considered this affair as
unworthy of its attention, doubtless desired Ito let it decline f
itself, and it bas succeeded. The insurrection has lost the greatsr
part of its strength, and the military chief ass himselt
almost deserted by the population. However, as it is aholiste:y
necessary to 'educe to order the province which Is at present Iv t -
drawn from the Sultan's Government, orders have come to-day
from Constantinople for Ries Aga to reduce to order the rebi I-
noue Zeybecki and their chief, on whom alone the vengeance of
the Government will undoubtedly fall. Ries Aga, who is one of
the most powerful iJerebegs of Natolia, enjoys great public esteem,
which will reduce the rebellious districts sooner thin his troops
could do. • His very name is a pledge which they will
gladly accept, so that a speedy termination of this insurrec-
tion may be foreseen. It it was not calculated to give
the Goverment very serious alarm, it must, however, tend to
show it the necessity of employing the leisure that place will afford
to regulate the Administration, to reduce the burdens borne by the
people to a due prop. rtion with its means,and, observing the prin-
ciples of justice and political economy, to take advents,' of au the
resources which tbi• rich country and its excellent population 'ter
to the Sultan."—dillgeesenw Zeining
Titl MTS, Nov. 23.

A traveller, who has strived litre on board a 'hip, in 19 J. ye,
from Syra, and who kft Tchenne the 24th of October, repteleate
the insurrection in the neigbourhood of Smyrna a. much more
dangerous than it is described in the accounts from foams tinople.
The Goredment hail immediately adopted rigorous m. same to
suppress dee insurrection in its birth, hut without nacre. It
was aid the insurgents had dekated and put to flight a detach-
ment of troops sent against them,-and had afterwards ccupird the
town of Caliente*. In general, the state of affairs was considered
as very serious when the traveller kit, ant alarm was fek even in
Smyrna.—(The neat mail from Constantinople will show what
credit may baskets to these accountal—Norembers CberapeadenS,
Dec 7.
From the Allyemeine Zeitsmy of Dec. 8.
CONSTANTINOPLE, r ov. 10.
No accounts have lately been received from the head-quarters
of General Dkhitech, and Coubt Orbit who was to treat with
the Pone, arrived some days ago. Count Dkbit•ch was very

I.tely zt Adrianople, and i< Lae!y to marsh only within the
!..tter ; art of the month. Gbiurgevo has, in the mean time,
teen a arendered to the Russian troops; and the Finnan& re-
. ••••••,:•" g Servia are said to have been prepared and sent
off. Pacha of Scutari sends his troops into cantonments
i vicinity of Phifippopoli. Distress has reached the highest
pitch in those parts, and in several villages where the Albanians
committed the Greatest eseeves, the ihliabitantstave come to blows
with •hem. In Asia a battle has taken place between Count
i'a,kewitsch and the Seraslier of Fzzeroum, in which the forces of
lie latter have been almost annihilated. This intelligence is said to
h .ve made a great impression on the Sultan, whose sentiments
,ve rite to considerable apprehensions.
BUCHAREST, Nov. 16.
Yest. rday the fortress of Giurgevo was delivered up to the Rus
slang. The Russian detachment destined 4o garrison the place pro-
visionally, entered on that day after the Turks bad left the town,
.r.d took up their quarters assigned to them in the suburbs, march-
ing in the finest order, with music playing, and were enthusiutlcally
received by the inhabitants. On the 27th, the Turkish garrison,
with their provisions; ammunition, and all its property, were shipped
,ver to Rudschuk. General Kisseleff is hourly expected here.
The assignment of quarters for the reception of General Geismar,
Am this side of the Danube, from Karakel to this place, rendered
his presence necessary io that part. The plague causes no ap-
prehension.

This Day was published, Price 2s.

A SERIES of LETTERS, on the PORTUGUESE
QUESTION.

By J. A. LUSITANUS.

1:r These Letters appeared at Intervals in the columns of Tut
STAR. They prove that England has affected neutrality in the
affairs of Portugal, without being neutral; and pleaded the
principle of non-interference, when honour and humanity made it
imperative that she should interfere.

To be bad of JOHN NJEWCOI42, No. 1, IPlckett-place.
15th December, 1829.

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15.
PRICE OF STOCKS AT TWO O'CLOCK.
bank Stock 2161 16 India Stock shut
3 per Cent. Red. 931 $ India Bonds 70 68
3 per Ct. Cons. shut Old Annuities 931
31 per Ct. 1818, 106 11000 Exch.Bills (2d) 74 5
31 per Ct. Red. 091 1 .6500 Ditto 73 5
4 per Cent. shut 1100 and 1200 Ditto 73 5
4 per Ct. 1826, 105$ 1 * Advertised,
Long Ann.l9s 9 16ths6 Bank for Acct.
Do. 30 Years, 19 3-16 tbs $ Cons. for Jan. 941 }
FOREIGN FUNDS, TWO O'CLOCK.
Brazil lids, spr Ct. C6l7+ 7 $ Ilex. Bds. 5 per Ct.
Do. Ace. 67* $ Do B. 1826,6 p C. 251
litienni Ayres MI.. 6 p Ct. 27 Ditto Ace. 251
Colour. Bds. 6 per Ct. Ditto 100, 26
1)o. Bd.. 1824, 23 * 3 Port. eds. S p. Ct. 55
Ditto 100, 251 Rue. Bds. 1822, 5 prCt.
Dinkh lid, sr. Ct. 741 Ditto 111,109 mei
Greek Bonds, 5 p Ct. Sp. Bds. 5 per Ct. 101 I
Do. B. 1825, 5 prCt. 261 7
BRITISH AVD FOREIGN

311.11tES, TWO 0171.1telt
111 A kg PAIR. PCS MAIM
Holinos 300 300 453
_ Braella• , Imp. (iu..C3 pm.) SS 20•••••
Columbian (Ise. at Z 5 pm.) 100 •35 87}
Itrahlel %lonte 400 400 75
Uritiab Rock and Patent Salt 50 55 15

The Ministerial Papers announce that there is no
truth in the report of Mr. PEEL'S determination to re-
Nixn, or that Lord JERSEY is to succeed the Duke of
Nk,RTIIUNDERLAND as Viceroy of Ireland.

By referring to the STAR of Saturday, the sth inst.
oi:- readers will find the copy of the DECREE which
abiiishes Slavery in Mexico. This document having at
it :gth found its way into the columns of our contempo-
raries, we may be permitted to observe—and not for the
first time—that it is hardly dealing fairly with the public,
to suppress an important piece of intelligence, merely
I:^c•tuse it happens to appear in a paper which has
nothing to boast but the purity and independence of its
p:.

Mexican Papers of the 9th of October, which have
reached the North• and South American Coffee House,
state the important fact, that the President GUERILEIno
v.ai on the point of convoking the Congress in order to

resip the extraordinary powers with which he had been
invested. The executive had passed a resolution of
t7.anks to Generals SANTA ANNA and TERAN for the
talent and gallantry displayed by them during the recent
cents at Tampico.

It would appear by the French papers that CIIAILLY.B
X. has returned from Compiegne, without having come
to any decision concerning a change of Ministry. While
is this state of vacillation, the ultra royalist journals con-
tinue to revive all the doctrines which led to the Re-
volution. On the other hand, we never recollect any
period at which the liberal Press of France was more ani-
mated or more unanimous, on all the great points at issue
Lotween the Court and people. Having already offered
our own opinion as to the impossibility of M. de Po-
LIGN.I(7 ever obtaining a majority in the Chamber of
Deputies, we shall await the progress of events with no
small anxiety. In the mean time, we can only repeat
our regret, that neither the Prince nor his friends seem
to be aware of the fatal consequences, which can hardly
fail to spring front a prolongation of the present irritating
dissensions.

We had hoped that the advocates of a system so repug-
nant to all ordinary notions of personal, no less than of
n:ttional, freedom—so decidedly and unequivocally op-
posed to " the very spirit, practice, and express words of
our ancient laws and constitutions,"--,as that upon which
c NEW POLICE was founded and introduced into this
country, could only be recognised amongst those Jour-
noli.ts, who, in wilf;lly foregoing all pretensions to pub-
principle, had " fallen from their high estate," and
10.,t—tor ever lost—that estimation which they once de-
:-.ervedly held as the organs of popular opinion, and as the
I,:.lwarks of political power ; but who were, nevertheless,
out:teat-owing, even in their decline, to trade upon their
tided popularity, and to transfer their services from a
pork whose support they had forfeited, to a Ministry
that could only be upheld by such support as they could
offer. Decidedly averse as we have been to the establish-
meat of the NF.W POLICE—and zealously as we have
( ontended against so manifest an infraction of our most
ancient institutions, as well as of our popular rights ;
wtt were prepared for the hostility, and even for
tile rancorous vituperation, of the corrupt and

. , .

venal portion of the press :—but we must own we
did not—we could not—contemplate even the pro-
bability of reckoning amongst our opponents,—
or, at least, amongst the vindicators of such a measure,
a Journal so long, so consistently, so honourably devoted
.to the assertion of our national privileges, and to the
purest principles of civil liberty, as the Examiner. We
shall mot pause to inquire whether our eloquent and pa-
triotic Contemporary may Lave been induced to sanction
the innovation merely from the honest indignation with
which he regards the mal-administration of parochial
affairs—for in his estimation, " the very name of parish
implies negligence and job;"—or whether he has been
impelled to his present course by the influence of pro-
fessional associations, or by the mere desire of encoun-
tering a political adversary. Whatever the motive may
have been, it cannot compromise the independence
or the integrity of his character.—But whilst we
make this admission in the very spirit of sin-
cerity, we cannot be insensible to the advantage that
the

of tho government derives from the

acquiescence of so powerful a writer :--and hence arises '
our deep regret that he should have suffered his ani-
mosity to comparatively trifling abuses, to carry him
to an extreme so diametrically opposed to all his
former moot honourable advocacies, as the support of
an Anti-National Police-for,:e, organized, introduced,
and exclusively directed ail regulated, by the govern-
ment ;—over which the people possess no control what-
ever, nor any right of interference with its manage-
ment—although it is to them a source of additional,
and of excessive, taxation—without affording them any
additional security. However negligent or culpable
the parochial authorities may be—the people are in
no slight degree censurable for the toleration of abuses
which they certainly have the power of correcting;
but neither the " negligence" nor the " jobbing"
charged upon the parishes, can be said to furnish any
sufficient pretext for transferring the whole power to the
hands of the government: for if such a principle were
once to obtain, we should be called upon to resign—
one by one—the constitutional privileges which we now
possess, till in the end we should retain nothing of free-
dom but the name. We might then, perhaps, console
ourselves with the reflection, that we had been reduced
to such a state by that " imitation of nations who have
directed more attention to the science of law," which the
Examiner tells no, " is scarcely a reproach, though the
ignorance in which it has its origin is a sore scandal."
For our own parts, we can see nothing in the new sys-
tem, as compared with the ancient and constitutional
establishment, to compensate us for the danger of its in-
troduction, or to take away from the reproach of so dis-
creditable an imitation of the most degrading appendage
of absolute power.—We may indeed be told, " we must
remember that foreign antipathy to a Government Police
is an antipathy to an instrument which may be
despotically used where there is a despotic power"—but
we can never be reconciled to the introduction of any
despotic agency, in a country which has hitherto been
distinguished by the blessings which it has derived from
its free institutions.— If we have hitherto lived on tri-
umphantly—and prosperously; if we have been the
wonder and the envy of all surrounding nations, we
" must remember" that we have owed all our dis-
tinction and all our greatness—all the admiration,
and all the envy of the world, to our spirit of free-
dom—to our chartered immunities—and to our con-
stitutional rights.—Despotism is no more indigenous
to the clime of England than slavery :—and if ever
we relinquish the solo exercise of power to a Mi-
nister, we shall find, too late, that though " the evil"
may not be " in the instrument capable of good or of ill
application," yet that we have "parted with control over
Me handle,"—aad from the fear of " denying our Go-
vernment the sword necessary to our own protection,"
wo have neglected " to render the arm that wields it re-
sponsible
for its employment." Reforms in our penal 1
code have been amongst the most active, and perhaps ;
the most useful, occupations of one Member of the present 1
Cabinet ; but it would not surprise us to find the
Secretary for the Home Department, elated with the
success of his Police Enactments, proposing the surren- i
der to Government of all rights in the nomination
of Jurors ; for it may as well be urged of Sheriffs as of
Parishes, that "the very name implies negligence,"
since it is notorious, that beyond the ostentatious parade
of office, the Sheriff—that is, the actually responsible
Officer—the High Sheriff—never takes any part what-
ever in the details of the Shrievalty, which are confided
to the Sub-Sheriffs, who are invariably attornies, and
have thus an opportunity (which it would be an exercise
of more than human virtue in them to forego) of render-
ing their official duties subservient to their professional
interests. And on this ground, we may yet hear it
argued, that the whole duty of nominating and
impannelling Juries should be delegated to the
Law Officers of the Crown. In short, we may,
much sooner than we anticipate, practically illustrate the
truth of the Reviewer's remark, that " a Government
which will meddle in every thing, look after every thing,
which is apt to take a paternal care of the subject, in-
stead of allowing him to take care of himself, is in a
glorious train for the introduction of despotism."
We perfectly concur with the Examiner, that it is not
desirable " to cramp or deny the convenient machinery
of Government," so much as " to base the Government
on the popular power, and thus, by the creation of an in-
stant responsibility, to provide against abuse." But to
such a consummation many conditions are indispensable :
in the first place, it should be distinctly understood that
the machinery that may be considered " convenient" to the
Government be not inconvenient to the People ; and se-
condly,theGovernment requiring such confidence should at
least put forth some pretensions to the good faith ofthepeople.
But, most assuredly, if the Government had been content
with having its functions " based on the popular power,"
in this respect,—without resorting to the worst part of
the Continental system,—the responsibility would have

been quite as instant—and the provision against abuse!
quite as effectual, without being liable, as the New Po-
lice force now is, to the suspicions of a people naturally
and commendably jealous of every infringement upon
their liberty ; and, as an inevitable consequence, ob-
noxious to public censure. We should not have had the
" experiment" denounced, as it has justly been, by the able
writer—be he native, or foreigner, or " to the manner
born"—who iu the last number of " the Foreign Review,"
has powerfully exposed " the disgusting system of trea-
chery, lying, and abominations of all kinds" by which the
" parent-system" was brought to its most execrable per-
fection.—With an extract from his remarks, we shall
close our present notice of the subject :

"Were the NEW POLICE intended to be confined to
its present limits it would be a dangerous precedent, but
no immediate evil could be expected to arise from it.
But as it is only a trial in its present state, and there
is a prospect that sooner or later, all England will be
submitted to its power, we ask, what will become of our
laws against soldiers being in a place where an election
takes place, or the assizes are held ? Our ancestors will
be ridiculed of course, but it was under their laws that this
country preserved its independence, whilst all the rest of
the world was overpowered by the merciless hand of despo-
tism. Meanwhile, this is certainly a total change from Eng-
lish principles, since a police company may be capable
of doing still more mischief than one of soldiers.—
• • • It is obvious, that with twenty thousand such
satellites, under a Minister, skilful, bold, and enterprising,
I choosing well his time, and under a Sovereign, disposed to
support him with all his might, daring attempts might
I be made against the subject, even if unsuccessfully, yet
with a great chance of success. This is clear. Why
should we then run the risk, and afford any Minister,
possessing the requisite qualities, a temptation of trying
a desperate game, by putting into his hands such a dan-
gerous weapon as this New POLICE ?"

The Austrian Observer to the 4th Dec., which is this 'I
day received, contains, upon the whole, the most satis-
factory
summary we have seen for a long time on the
affairs of the East. The article which we subjoin, taken
with that under our foreign head, will convey to the
reader a pretty correct notion of the state of parties in
that quarter. There are, to be sure, several things in
doubt and confusion ; but what else could be expected on
such an oecasion? The conditions of the treaty of
peace had not been made public) at Constantinople,
although there is no doubt of their having been
received by the Divan. There had been battles,
too, both in European and Asiatic Turkey—some parti-
culars of which are already before the public. Revolts
against! the Turk were likewise breaking out ; but both
the PORTE and the Russians are adopting means of con-
ciliation : for the former has emancipated the Armenian
Catholics, and seems disposed to abolish all religious
distinctions ; while the latter proclaim the unrestrained
navigation of the Danube, and what must be considered
a white day for the natives of the East, announce a free
trade in that useful condiment—suit. The cold weather
has stayed the progress of the plague :

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