The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-03-25 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATES.UAN.

LLTTER 11.

. .
'• Winced with .tterliii;eett. utalignant falsehoods Ily,
Tl.at truth call rarri).hope to overtake a lie."

tint—A single sentence, and that expressive of my
Aiigation to von fur this indulgence, shall In' the oats
intervening one between quitting and resuming tin
s-diject we were considering.
The charge of land stewards and rent collectors is
•I,e same as the agents I have named.. aloe other de-
s. ription of gentlemen remain to he noticed. It is
.tuck-lorokers ; and perhaps, of all men dealing in money,
t'.ere are urine, who, in the public estimation, are so ill
oqnited. For time i 1111 l leitiorial they had been paid but
t a-and-sixpence fur the purchase of an linnilred pounds
.lock ; and every UMW who speaks of their vharge, won-
ih•rs at their mo.leration. Yet, the same reasoning
v bids makes pawilbroking extortionate, will find fault
,s :ill their gains. For, snprosing one hundred pounds,
Tare per Cents. to cost 66 (awl we have known it under
ri4), five per cent. on it is but trees farthings. Here
then, is a profit made of near nisei!, per rest., with no
servants to keep, nu money employed, and a hall and
°Arm, provided free of expellee, for registering the
documents anal transacting the business! Who shall
say a ratruhroker's 116 per rent. tat a shifting is not
snore expensively and laboriously acquired than this
'(tie truth is, the public's opinion of the twenty per cent.
which they take, is, that they got one fifth profit (mall the
saws they lend. Their adversaries have so disjoined the
words per assets, from per rest., that it is not gene-
rally believed their profit is only fourpenre, for the use
of twenty shillings fur a month. It is tins frequently,
hr those who know better, slid to be as many shillings.
Were this properly expinined, no unprejudiced person
would hesitate in agreeing, that where responsibility is
incurred and labour performed, the parties are entitled'
to a profit far beyond any thing that common interest
can par. It being always recollected that pawnbrokers'
loans are confined to small sums; and that every one of '
diem daily receives snore than an hundred pledges under
fi.• shillings each. But. if profit Inns? be measured by
this standard, and if an interest on the value of an
article is .to be considered a compensation for time and
trouble, let us notice, iu the instance of einsinion pots
:.rage, what amount a poor man has reasonably award-1
v.l him. To convey a hare from an ion, to a I se a
mile and a half distant, the carrier is allowed, by Act
of Parliament. ten-p,-flee. Now, taking its value at five
shillings, it would par hiniftny per rent. should he be a
month iu doing it ; but let him perform it in the day
and his diligence is rewarded by fifteen Ay:mired.
it may nut bl• irrelevant in this place to observe, that
when pawnbrokers are tined for taking excessise in-
terest, it is generally at the instance of some common
40in:1:er : and, although the surcharge rarest- exceeds
Iwo or three farthings,yet,bv the foregoing calculation,
the public are usually taught to believe it is a depredio
thin of seleral lionilreds per rent. over and Oruro the 20
thew are 'legally entitled to.
litre persons less deeply interested might willinglv rest
tte question, convinced that every unbiassed jnilgment
n outd feel fully satisfied with the explanation 1 have
I.iven ; last the objection to pawnbrokers is so deeply
rooted, that I cannot leave this part of their defence
bile any material remark continues unstated. Fur,
s•ill, the ingenuity of their opponents in rating their
gains at tAieteest Airadred J.cr (Nit., is calculated to
wake such an unfavourable impression on the public
mind, that they must never trope to see it remitted,
sunless they can associate in inseparable union N% ilk it
this equally irrefragible truth—that the advantage so
dwelt on never arises hat in the instance they have
stated; and %4 ken it does, a pawnbroker cannot possibly
receive for interea, pt%fit, and loloostr, nitre than the
sum of use halfpenny. That what is deemed thirteen
t :attired per rest. is a congregation of fractions, of such
indescribable insignificance, that it requires sir tomb-eft •
and fifty of than to compose *farthing: and if he were
mined to taken inure than six musararo ASP IeOPITT-
NOCE I,FR l'i:X T. interest u melt transactions, lie must
I...rform them foe We/TYING, there being no coin in the
realm sufficiently small to discharge this apparently
nsurions demand.

Having non shown yen what the pawnhrolers pro-
fits are not, I will, with permissioa, lay before you what
they really are. To obtain attention to this important
point, it wee necessary first to answer the foregoing
misrepresentations. V tieing it, I have endeavoured tb
check evert- rising of resentment, and every scrims-
oleos rentarl, persuaded that many who think so much
worse of the trade than it merits, entertain their objec-
tions from honourable feelings; and conscious how
ithcitit it we. fur wise and rood poen, not to receive
i -repressions from the misrepresentations of others, and
t:.e too-ready credence giving to the tale of slander re-
epouting those we 41ialike, perhaps no class of teen
ever were greater sufferers from this cause than the per-
sons lam advocating. Owing to it, their personal in-
tercourse sad friendly communication with society have
fir.en iaterrepted--clouds of soispicios have been raised

without any cause, and ere Ili believed which never
existed. Their profession Las bees doomed dishonour-
hearts callous—their seasinsents illiberal ;
arAl, though I way be bold to say, wally of them in their
walk of life hare been, and are, considered persons of
the most irreproachable character, yet the excellency
of their conduct scarcely *RPM did mere than remove the
odium Irons themselves, iu the narrow circle to which
tbey were confined, while the general prejudice bee
grown stronger from age, and more inveterate by reb
petition. This is not declamation. Esperieace has eat
her seal to its truth. It may net be known to mail.
het-ease few choose to'contemplate the bright side of these
characters ; but were it as much the fashion to disrovee
pews/brokers' virtues, as it is to display their demerits,
it *stld be found they are as liberal oontrilintors to the
removal of parochial distress—as constant subscribers
to beuseolent institutions; and as cheerfully disposed
to preempt their mite, when their country is smiled tie
alleviate national or foreign calamity, as any other body
of men with whom, in point of opulence, it may ho
just to compare than.
lint it is not aseesaar to enlarge upon this; fee I
Vast we are arrived at that point n the disquisition,
when the isquiry will not be, who, or what the indivi-
duals are, that are the. differed ; but what the truth
is, which forms the subjects of oar investigation ; and Is
that conviction. I shall in my next letter enter, with
pleasurable feelings. into the eonsideratlen--Wiathee,
is point q* polity, peemareders Aosta k amossatippd
ey the eaowaaityt and whether they eve sejiefeall,
reeaespeeeedfbr the eer ices they perjbein f
A.P.Q.

Mir Majesty hes directed that the whole of his
earritcros, whkh have hitherto bees iovariably of
a bright yellow, *ball be.re-coloored the nose as
those of his late Majesty, of a red brown or ello-
gelato ODIOGIit.