Star.
London, England, 1818-04-21 00:00:00

PrPCUTIONS FOR FORGERY.

On Friday morning last, amidst an immense
assemblage of spectators, Ann Bamford, aged 60
years; Ann Diekons, aged 40 ; William Stevearts
aged 42; and Pins. Gray, aged 22, were executed on
the New Drop, at the front °Marwick Jail. They
were convicted, with six others, before Mr. Baron
G ARROW, at the last Assizes, for dealing in, and utter-
ing forged Bank Notes. Considerable interest had
been made to save the life of Gray, the crime for
which he was convicted being his first offence: he
was a mere youth, and had been entrapped into the
commission of the crime : lie had been married little
more than twelve month', and his wife is near the pe-
riod of her accouchement. The untimely death of
her husband has reduced her to such a state that'she is
not expected to survive—grief has bmken her heart !
The following petition was presented by the unhappy

aman a few days since to the PRINCE RuGENT
" May it please your Royal Highness—Despairing of another
human help, a distracted wife prostrates herself at the feet of
T.,ur Royal Highness, and most humbly, but pathetically,.peti•
dons for the use of her husband, who now lies in Warwick Jail,
,under the awful sentence of death for forgery. The unfortunate
woman who presumes to apply at the fountain of mercy and
gouctr.ess, though now overwhelmed by present and prospective
,calamity, is the daughter of the late Colonel J. Raw, a man
thstirguo.hed for his loyaltyand patriotism, who, fat the defense
of his King and Country, raised a Regiment called the Bil=.
ham Loyal Fencibles. Oh! gracious Prince ! save his
from the infamy of an ignominious death. Oh! save his daugh-
ter's life, and that of her unborn and innocent child, which bang
upon the life of her husband. Great Prince, look with an eye
of compassion, upon us, and permit me to state such reasons as
may justify your Royal Highness in the dispensation of merry
Ito my poor husband. Think, Royal Sir, upon his youth and
inexperience, only twentyatwo years of age. Reflect, great Sir,
that this is his first offence ; that by the accompanying testimony
of his last employer, J. W. Wright, of Birmingham, whibt is
his employ, "he conducted himself in a remarkably mbar,
industrious, and honest manner." Permit me to state to
your Royal Highness, that when brought up for trial, he re.
pettedly pleaded guilty, and was with diulty and reluctance
persuaded to retract his plea; that others, equally guilty, who
' persisted in their plea, are recommended to mercy, while ray
husband, through his ignorance and agitation in the hour of trial,
is left on the awful list of those who are to die.—Ob ! gracious
Prince ! suffer not my poor husband's lgrtorwiceand inexperience
to prove fatal to him. Oh ! grant him his life, and banith us
to any part of the world, where we may hide OUT heeds from
the shame of general contempt. Oh ! spare his life, gracious
Prince! oh suffer me not to be driven from this last ;tope! So
may the petitions of your Royal Highness, in that hour which
equally awaits the Prince and the peasant, meat with a blessed
.114.WCT from the KING or K.. 12444. Were my husband a mat of
cruelty and depravity, I would not dare to pollute the sanctuary
el your Royal mind by exciting its sympathies for him ; but,
when I reflect on his love and tenderness, and generosity to my-
self ; when I further recollect, that it was his misguided love to
me, and his anxiety to supply me with those comforts to which,
in better days, I had been accustomed, which precipitated him '
into the crime for which he is doomed to die, I cannot help in-
dulging the hope, that your Royal Highness will stretch forth your'
benevolent hand and snatch my poor husband front the jaws of
death. And your Petitioner will, as in duty bound, fur ever
pray, &c. vAancr GRAY."
—The other three persons who suffered with Gray,
have been for some time in the practice of uttering
forged Notes: Ann Bamford had been more than
fifteen years a dealer in bad money and forged Notes ;
four of her relations were convicted with her, viz. her
son, his wife, a nephew, and a niece; they pleaded
guilty, and were transported for fourteen years—her
husband, with two other relations, were transported a
few Sessions ago.

Tne honour, delicacy, and inviolable secrecy con-
nected with the Medical Board for the cure of prevail-
ing diseases, are manifested from the public confi-
dence it has acquired. Since the Medical Board has
been established, at Charlotte-house Great Charlotte-
street, Blackfriars-road, and Woodstock-street, Ox-
ford-street, upwards of Thirty Thousand Patients of
bath sexes have been restored to perfect health, many
of whom had lingered for years under the most pain-
ful and obstinate dis!ises, were pronounced incurable
by respectable practitioners, and several discharged
from Hospitals—such are the effects resulting from
combined talents !! Messrs. COOPER and Co. of Me-
dial and Surgical celebrity, after forty years expe-
rience in this Metropolis, are consulted daily at both
houses until nine at night, and the poor have advice
gratis, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday mornings,
until 143 o'clock.—Patients at a distance, describing'
their case, immediately attended to. All letters to be
direited to Charlotte-ha:lse. Blackfri ars-road, but none
122, answered which du not contain a consulting lee..

PARLIAMENrARY PROCEEDINGS.
HOUSE OF LORDS, APRIL 20.
Aloniessi were farther' heard relative so the Queensberry mow
Ihr_rvimi again on Wednesday.
We Privately Steeling Bill was brought up frnnr the Can
sun b Sir Sane*. Rossittv and others and read the Snit
Te ; Wert seem! private Bills, presented ley Lord Dom
ssamon, lllr. Dweenson, and other Members.
Mt. Vax.ustrs, from the Signet Office, presented some farthet.
lineaments respecting the -Grants of Pardons under the Great
Seal; the Fees paid thereon pursuant to an order of the House.
UM Upon the table.
The Earl of CALRDOW presented various Petitions Been
IhrsOountilis of Derry and Donegal,'in Ireland, and from cer-
tain Towns and Parishes therein, on the subject of illicit Distil.
ladisa, and praying for a revision or modification of the Distil-
lbey Laws in Ireland.---Laid upon the table.
Plorosnn •ENEWAL OF THE ALIEN ACT.
Lord HOLLAND wished to put a question to a
Noble Eatl opposite. He had heard it. said that it
wa.ssthe intention of his Majesty's Government to
).Tani to Parliament the renewal of what is com-
mon., called the Alien Act. He wished to know if.
*is were she case, and whether this country was
placed by any sort of treaty or engagement in such
a situation, with respect to any Foreign Powers, so
as to render it expeaient to assimilate that part emir
laws to those of Foreign Powers in such respects ? If
it were so, he could not but regard it as one of the
most vexatious and tyrannoui conditions that was
ever made.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL said, he had no hesita-
tion in giving an answer to the Noble Lord's ques-
tion at once, and had no difficulty first in saying,
that it is the intention of his Majesty's Government
to propose a renewal of the Act, a measure which
he thought continued to be of the highest impor-
tance ; and, secondly, it was proposed upon the view
' which his Majesty's Government took of the best in-
terests of the country, and not in consequence of any
engagement with Foreign Powers whatever. It was
deemed necessary solely on their own view of the
subject, in which the feeling of its necessity was
strong, and he trusted a similar view of the subject
would be taken on the part of Parlilment.
CDRRENCT---PAPER •ND METALLIC.
The Order for summoning their Lordships being

read—
The Earl of LAUDERDALE rose, in pursuance
of his notice, to bring this important and complicated
subject under the consideration of their Lordships.—
The Noble Earl said, his principal object was to cifn-
vinee the Ilouse of the imperious necessity 01
toting an inquiry into a complicated and extensive.
subject. in which the vital interests of the country I
were materially involved. It seemed the intention of
Government to propose certain regulations, witk a
view to the paper currency, and avowedly with an
eventual reference to the resumption of cash pay-
losents by the Bank ; but, he contended, that unless
:.the present Mint Regulations were materially alter-
ed, it would be found impracticable for the Bank to
resume or continue its payments in cash. They were
especially called upon to investigate, with reference,
were there no other motive, to a pending measure
for further continuing the restriction on the Bank ;
they should be satisfied as to the operation and effect
of such a proposition, before their Lordships afforded
it their concurrence. The whole system adopted by
Government of latter years, was a departure from
the ancient salutary system under which this country
had so long prospered, and had attained its unrival-
led height of opulence and commercial superiority.
The pnncipal cause assigned by Ministers for ren-
dering the farther restriction upon the Bank advis-
able was, he contended, no adequate reason what-
ever. Even when the. restriction was originally im-
posed. though there were foreign loans or advances
in a course of payment from this country, such a
cause was not assigned. The specie sent out of the
country for that purpose was held to make no sen-
sible difference, as was proved by the testimony of,
the Bank Directors who were then examined. And
farther it was held, that if loans were negotiated for
all the countries in Europe, it would not exhaust this
country of its specie. It was not through cash alone
such remittances were furnished, but by commodities;
also of which latter description every commercial
man sent as great a proportion as he possibly could.
It was impossible, therefore= he thought, that any
foreigai loan now negotiating conld furnish an ade.A
quate cause for continuing the Restriction upon the'
Bank; neither did it even operate upon that Campo-,
ration as a pecuniary cause ; nor were the extents of
Ibs . private discounts a cause of prevention ; but the'
Ireal cause he considered to be the immense advances
made by the Bank to Government. They were not
in a progress of diminishing their advances ; and he
argued, from a reference to certain Statutes, parti-
cularly the Act of William and Mary, that it, was
illegal to make more advances than what were'
founded upon Votes of Credit. To such an amount'
had those advances increased, that they were now,
he believed, more than double the sum they were
when the restriction was first laid on. He then ad.l
verted to the recent proposition of calling upon I
Country Bankers for Stock security equal to the
issue of their small notes. On this he commented in
some detail, and seemed to impugn its tendency as
militating against that principle upon which all Bank
notes were receiv:cl—the general credit, or faith in
the stability of the concern; and particularly as de-1
macting from the credit of the respective firms as to
their larger notes, while it went to favour the credit
of the Bark of England exclusively. As to the idea
of Stock Debentures, he re2rded it so extravagant
in itself, as that it could not be seriously countenan-
ced in any degree. Recurring then to the state of
the currency, it was a point, his Lordship contended,
which perhaps more than any other called for a
Parliamentary investigation. He first dwelt upon
the paper branch thereof, and that there were ob..
served now four descriptions of Paper currencies in
circulation ; and on referring to the Metallic branch,
it was, in its relations to the state sf the exchanges
and the current prices of the precious metal., equally

The Earl of LIVERPOOL rose, and begged e:e
indulgence of the House, while he offered a few ob-
servations which he felt called fur, in consequence of
some points which fell from the Noble Eirl ; and he
must be allowed to say, with, all reasonable defe-
rence for the judgment and information relative to a
question upon which the Noble Earl had employed
so much labour, he had never heard so mum dog,
nsatizing in a discussion before o.le principle LUd
down by the Noble Earl, he cordially concurred in,
namely, that the best system for the circulation of
any country, was a system of paper currency, which
paper should be liable to be paid in a metallic ore, if
called for. lie agreed also, that the more a paper
currency prevailedohe less there would be of a cash
eirculation. He could, however, assure the noble
Lord (Lauderdale) as was well known to those who
best knew him, that he was as anxious as any man

could be for the resumption of cash eayme.lts on the
part of the Bank of England. And that it was with
the greatest repugnance he now recognized the ne-
cesety of coatinumg the restriction fur some time
longer. With respect to what was said as to ete pre-
ierability of silver
to gold as a secadarch Crera Mel.
sure of value, he saw• no reason to depart from the
opinion which he (Lord Liverpool) formerly ad-
vanced upon the point, which was decisively, that
gold was preferable as a measure of value ; and it
was known that it was long so in point of fact before
it came to be sanctioned by law ; and, in all transac-
tions, gold was considered as the standard can ; and
it was not till a long interval that it was enacted
silver should not be a legal tender beyond 251. He
differed most essentially from the Noble Earl upon
this point, and he deemed him to be mistaken as to
the reasoning deducible from the calculations of Sir
Isaac Newton upon the value of that metal. By the
I law, also, gold, in bullion, may be exchanged, en
demand, fur coin at the Mitt, whereas such a privi-
lege was not extended to the holders of silver bullion.
Cold was certainly more liable to be exported than
silver, because a substitute may be found for the for..
mer, and none could be found for the latter. These,
together with the advantages always afforded to gold •
by the Mipt regulations, were, he thought, conclu-
sive as to the point. The Noble Earl then adverted
to the impertant toy.ic pf the Paper Circulation. OR .
this he thought, taring the question generally, it
must be allowed that some reet tlativas were neces-
sary respect to the circulation of paper, and
that something in the way of check should be pro;.
vided. This principlet. he thought, could not be
disputed. As the law now stood, no check what-
ever existed with respect to the paper circulation,
particularly with reference to the issue of small notes.
No man, he believed, was very desirous of retaining
to the system of a pure metallic currency, to the ex-
clusion of a paper circulation. lie was decidedly of
opinion, that the issues of Country Banks required
some regulation. Since the year 1814, out of '7OO
Country Banks then existing, no fewer than 200 have
disappeared. More than one-third have been swept
from the face of the country, and it was• a curious
fact, that much of the distress which the country
had at one time experienced, was ateibuted to tke
extent to which the Country Bank system had been
carried. Htte, then, was a great permanent evil, a
thousand times mote formidable than the Bank Re-
striction. The Bank of England had been restrained
by the hand of Government from
.political conside-
rations ; and without the interposition of some regu-
lation, things may fall rut so, as by inducing a run
upon the Country Banks, it would not onlrruits
those, but possibly cause a most injurious run upon
the Bank of England itself. He therefore thought
the necessity of some limitation wasindisputible. In
the case of Scotland it was very different, there not
being, in fact, more than one or two of what could
properly be called pirate Country Banks in that
part of the island. 'lite Banking Eqablishmenet
there, in consequence, remained almost entire. The
plan of requiting the deposit of a certain amount cf
Stock, in the way of security, was not liable to those
objections urged by the Noble Lord. Such a de-
posit, he hal no doubt, instead of tending to bring
down the credit of the higher toentry notes, would,
on the contrary, tend to uphold it. • They knew,
from the information before the House, the state ok
the currency with respect to the small notes, and as
suck would require to be stamped, they could know
the quantity in circulation from year to year. Such
a regulation as he contemplated, would not only he
beneficial to the credit of all; but, when thoroughly
considered, must be found c,sentially necesury. ro •
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