THE LANCET-THIRD EDITION. FIRST FOUR VOLUMES of The LANCET. These Volumes contain a faithful History of all Medical Occurrences for the year 1824-5; and, in addition to which, a most accurate report of Sir Astley Cooper's last delivered Course of invaluable Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery. These Lectures are 76 in number, and embrace the subject of every surgical disease. London: printed for Knight and Lacey, Paternoster row; and G. L. Hutchinson, Lancet Office, Strand. In a few days will be published, by OLIVER and BOYD, Edinburgh; and Gro. B. WHITTARER, London, in 1 vol. post 8vo. containing 550 closely printed pages, 12s. boards, the French of A. F. MIGNET. A good History of the greatest political Revolution in modern times has les been a desideratum both in French and English Literature. This has at leng been supplied in France by M. Mignet, in a work as admirably concise, in partial, and philosophic, as it is remarkable for beauty and clearness of style. Considering the extraordinary interest of the narration, and the talent win which it is penned, it is thought that the English Reader cannot be better say plied than by a Translation of M. Mignet's History. "M. Mignet's History of the French Revolution is a chef-d'oeuvre, superior to everything that has appeared for the last fifty years. I cannot but belist, that the " Histoire de la Revolution" will be translated into English. It wa mightily surprise the good people of England who have never understood de epoch of terror, the greatest political phenomenon that Europe has witnesst for six hundred years."-Letters from Paris, by Grimm's Grandson: London Magazine. Two editions are printing: one for the library, in 2 vols. Svac price Se in boards, the other a cheap edition in 12mo. intended as a companion to Cent Segur's History of the Russian Expedition, to be published in weekly part, price is. each, the first of which will appear on the same day with the fine edition. Both editions will be adorned with portraits of Gen, La Fayette and Madame Roland, not in the French work. JANUS; or, the EDINBURGH LITERARY ALMANACK-To be pub- The publication of this Work has, from circumstances not likely to occur again, been deferred considerably beyond the time intended. In future yers, the volume will be produced in the first week of November. The Editor has the satisfaction to state, that he has received every assurance of steady and efficient assistance from the distinguished literary characters who have contri buted the present volume. In 3 vols. 12mo. price 24s. boards, PANDURANG HARI; or, Memoirs of a Hindoo. "The book before us is evidently penned by one acquainted with the country in which the scene is laid. 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Nearly ready, in 1 handsome valuno, price 101. 03. 20 In 1 vol. 2s. 6d. boards, FIRST PRINCIPLES of ALGEBRA, compiled for the Use of Mechanics and others. DEDICATED TO THE KING. Nearly ready, in 1 handsome 8vo. volume, price 248. A GENERAL and HERALDIC DICTIONARY of the PEERAGE and BARONETAGE of the UNITED KINGDOM, for the Yest 1826, exhibiting, under strict Alphabetical Arrangement, the present State those illustrious Orders, with Armorial Bearings, Mottos, &c. and deducing, from its Founder, the Lineage of each distinguished House. With an Appendir, comprising the Surnames of the Peers, the Titles, by Courtesy, of their Eldest Sons, the Names of Heirs Presumptive, &c. &c. &c. By JOHN BURKE, Esq. cecate The Armorial Bearings are comprised in 300 pages of beautifully A New Edition, embellished with Sixty Engravings, 28. 6d. boards, RATIONAL RECREATIONS: containing the most Marvellous Just published, in 3 vols. 8vo. price 24s. boards, SERMONS of the Rev. JOHN JORTIN, D.D. Archdeacon London, and Vicar of Kensington. Abridged by the Rev. GEORGE WHIT London: printed by JoHN HUNT, in Broad street, Golden square, a No. 932. MONDAY, DEC. 19, 1825. THE POLITICAL EXAMINER. Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.-POPE. COMMERCIAL DISTRESS—BANKING SYSTEM. their efforts could not call in their money as fast as their customers drew it out, made the alarm epidemic;-and we have seen the result. That much of the mischief has arisen from the ignorance of the Bank Directors, can hardly be disputed. When they ought to have contracted their issues of paper, owing to the balance of foreign payTHE present commercial embarrassment, although for some time past them-not perhaps more than about two millions; but still, at such a ments against us, and the increase of country notes, they enlarged partially anticipated, has reached a height which exceeds the expec- moment, even that amount operated very injuriously. When lately tations of those who were disposed to be most gloomy in their prog the growing panic withdrew immense sums of money from circulation, nostications. Panic has come in, and aggravated fifty-fold the original and an enormous drain of gold and notes was made from London by evil. The bankers, both in town and country, have been suddenly the terrified provincial bankers, the Directors in the first instance rerun upon by the public for the money they hold of their customers; fused to augment their usual weekly discounts, and latterly, when they and, as must always be the result when an unforeseen and simultaneous demand is made upon them, several have been drained of their did increase their accommodation, it was far short of the growing immediate funds, and compelled to stop payment. It affords how-necessity for it. At such a time, with the foreign exchanges greatly ever a striking proof how much an excessive and unfounded alarm in our favour, and a considerable importation of gold going on, it has had to do with the matter, that out of the six banking houses who have recently failed in London, three, if not more, are already known to be worth a large surplus after all their debts shall be paid-large enough indeed to enable the partners to retire with fortunes! This, it must be confessed, is very hard upon the parties whose business is thus causelessly destroyed; and it affords an additional reason for such an amendment of our banking system as will protect both the public and the bankers from the cruel and disastrous effects of unfounded alarms. Several causes appear to have combined in the production of the present commercial distress. Perhaps they may all be included under the description of over-trading and over-speculation; but they require a more detailed examination. The extravagant schemes of 1824-5 are obviously among these causes, although operative to a much less extent than the mere perusal of lists of joint-stock companies would lead one to suppose. An effect upon the currency must however have taken place in consequence of the exportation of specie to South America, to commence mining operations with, the mines not having yet returned one penny to the country. The enormous specu. lations, first in colonial produce, and afterwards in cotton, must have had a more mischievous influence upon our circulating medium. Not only were large purchases made from foreign countries, but the speculators strained their credit to the utmost, and raised money upon engagements which they find it difficult or impossible to meet. The Bank of England too some time back increased its issues, by lending upon mortgage and upon government stock; and the amount of country bank paper was at the same time augmented. These causes, combined with an excess of imports over exports (the temporary consequence of the wise measures adopted by Parliament in the removal of commercial restrictions) occasioned a balance of payments against this country in its transactions with foreign states, which balance being of course paid in gold, caused that large drain of the precious metals which has till very lately been going on. The Bank of England became alarmed at the rapid diminution of their stock of gold (the demand for it being so great, that a sufficient daily supply could with difficulty be coined at the Mint ;) the Directors determined to contract their issues; they called in their advances on land and stock, and (it is believed) sold Exchequer-bills largely. This sudden contraction straitened the capitalists and extensive traders, who happened, for the reasons above stated, to need peculiarly abundant accommodation at the moment when they were thus cut off from their ordinary supplies; pressure and difficulty begat want of confidence; the failure of one London banker last week caused a run, more or less, upon every other; hence a necessity for each to provide himself with an extraordinary supply of bank-notes and gold, to lock up in his house, in order to pay the demands upon him; hence too an almost total cessation of discounts for his customers; this again increased the difficulty among traders of all sorts; the abstraction of so large a portion of the currency from circulation paralyzed all commercial transactions;* the failure of several other bankers, who in spite of all To what an extent this took place may be estimated from the following rational statement in the Globe and Traveller "There are sixtyfive or sixty-six Banking-houses in London; the average of the cash, payable on demand, we certainly underrate at a third of a million, or twenty-two millions for the whole body. If the banking establishments, in the dread of panics, are to lock up anything like the whole of this sum, what must be the effect upon the dealings of the country? But after all, it would be quite impossible to get money to meet the whole of the demands that might be made upon them, for the sum exceeds the whole of the circulation in London and its neighbourhood. What must became the Bank Directors, if they felt for the public interest any which have taken place in this country for the last 35 years, have been produced by alterations in the amount of the money in circulation, and not in any important degree by the variations of seasons, of commerce, &c. He shews, from arithmetical data, that at times when, from natural causes, prices should have fallen, they have risen; and on the other hand, that when they should have risen, they have fallen; but he explains this apparent contradiction by exhibiting the great alterations in the currency which took place at those periods. He has in particular called attention to the fluctuating amount of the notes of country bankers a part of the circulation which has been strangely disregarded by many writers on the subject, and to which none has attached sufficient importance. He points out the impolicy and injustice of allowing one great establishment in town, and scores of private individuals throughout the kingdom, to exercise so tremendous a power as that of increasing or diminishing the currency at pleasure, and by that means raising or lowering the prices of food and commodities, altering fixed contracts, and changing to a great extent the relations between debtor and creditor. The following remarks on this part of the subject seem to us unanswerable:"A great jealousy is entertained with respect to what is called tam-like the present. It is in evidence given to Parliament, that the public pering with the currency, and as all the contracts of society are formed through the medium of money, and the transactions of every individual are more or less affected by changes in its value, this jealousy is natural and proper... "The value of the currency is determined by the quantity of it in circulation: and tampering with it may be defined to be any act that shall have the effect of altering this quantity; by which only, except by debasing the coin, its value can be affected. "Increasing the quantity, however, in circulation has the same effect as debasing the coin. If, for example, money will purchase only half the commodities when a contract is settled that it would have done when it was made, it can make no difference to the parties whether this arises from an alteration in the weight or in the value of the coin in which the money is paid. On the other hand, if a guinea will purchase double the commodities it would have done before, it will be of no importance to the parties whether the gold of two guineas has been coined into one, or the value of the guinea in commodities has been doubled. "Altering the standard of the coin, by which all the contracts of society are forcibly deranged, is, properly considered, one of the most unjust and injurious steps which a government can adopt. Nor would it be less objectionable if, as generally happens with fluctuations of the currency, such alterations were made only for short periods. The precious metals are employed as money, principally because they are not subject to any material fluctuations in their quantity and value; and tampering with the currency, by which such fluctuations may be produced, is as unjust and injurious as alterations in the legal standard of the country. his business by a groundless panic. Now it seems to us quite clear, that as the operations of banks have so important an effect upon the trade and prosperity of the country, the public have a right to exact from all who carry on the business of banking, security for the legi timate conducting of it. This security would be afforded by publicity, The Bank of France, one of the most thriving establishments in Europe, publishes periodical statements of its affairs. The joint-stock banking companies of Scotland, though they do not formally publish such statements, consist of so numerous a proprietary that all the purposes of publicity are obtained. It is quite certain, that had the inhabitants of London known the solvency of the houses of Sir PETER POLE and Messrs. WILLIAMS, as certainly as the inhabitants of Edinburgh know the solvency of the Royal and Commercial Banks, no "run" upor those London bankers would have taken place. It is therefore the interest of every sound and honest banker, almost as much as that of the public, to get the system reformed. If the Bank Charter did not prevent the formation of joint-stock banking companies, people would neither lodge money with, nor take the promissory notes of, any other kind in short, it would never pay private persons to carry on banks never lost a guinea by the failure of any of the Scotch joint-stock com panies. Why then should the nation be exposed to dreadful panies and fluctuations of the currency, and individuals to embarrassment and ruin, by the want of safe banks? Simply in order that one overgrown establishment in London may derive certain profits, and its Directors may exercise a most dangerous power, from the monstrous monopoly! Since the above was written, the panic appears to be subsiding. It will take some time however to restore confidence, and much of the mischief to individuals is of course irreparable. The Bank of England have resorted to an issue of one and two pound notes-an ugly necessity at the best. We are however promised that their circulation shall only be temporary, and that it shall be confined to the country, being intended for the relief of the country bankers alone. Every thing depends upon the faith with which this promise will be kept. LITERARY NOTICE. Reminiscences of Michael Kelly. Or all sorts of Autobiography, that of the self-complacent personages who "strut and fret their hour upon the stage," is at once the most unimportant and most amusing. Who has not luxuriated over "Cibber's Apology," and with a sort of comic version of the feelings "It is, however, surprising that while this jealousy is entertained with with which Addison would have us enter Westminster Abbey, ponrespect to Government, individuals are allowed to tamper with the curdered over the vagaries of past generations of the ephemeral children rency as they may think fit. The value of all the property, and the of wit, gaiety, and pleasure, beings, whose memories, if not pickled transactions of all the inhabitants, of this kingdom, are determined by and preserved in similar productions, would pass away like that of the the quantity of money which a certain number of banking establishments find it agreeable to their respective interests to keep in circulation: a insect tribes to whom a single summer's day supplies the beginning! principle so extraordinary to be in practical operation, that after ages and the end of their existence. The Players have more especially a will wonder at the fact. It would be more improper for the standard world of their own, and in many respects it borrows a portion of the coin of the realm to be manufactured by private individuals, and altered artificial character of the profession. Within their proper sphere, they as it suited their convenience; or that the weights and measures of the are more the great people whom they sometimes represent, than the kingdom should be subject to the same fluctuations." world imagines. The secret lies in the fact, that mankind have always As a substitute for the present mischievous and dangerous system, a secret kindness for those who amuse them; and if this be the case the writer proposes, that the currency should consist partly of gold with society at large, they who can contrive to stimulate the blunted coin, and partly of paper, the latter to be issued upon deposit of bul- sense of satiety, are still greater favourites with the possessors of rank lion, and under such regulations as would make it answer in all re- and opulence. This is a general truth, and applies to all times. spects the purposes of a currency wholly metallic, For the details of Rome had its Paris, its Roscius, and its Esopus, who swallowed pearls his plan we must refer to the book itself: they appear to us very com-in vinegar, intrigued with patrician ladies, and played tricks almost plete and satisfactory. as fantastic as the heroes and Divi whom they represented." The A great outcry is commonly made against those unfortunate bankers children of fashion, in fact, are always acting, virtually, like the Emwho fail and are found deficient. To a certain extent they are un-peror who offered a large reward to him who could invent an addquestionably blameable; but it is idle to rail against the ordinary tional pleasure; and none are more spoiled by indulgence than they weakness of human nature. There are not many men who can resist who succeed. The creation of some silly airs of importance, but of the temptations which a great command of money brings with it. much real opportunity for curious and whimsical observation, is, While hope springs eternal in the human breast," bankers who can however, the usual consequence; not to mention that, besides mere create money by a printing press, will often embark in speculations wealth and station, the retainers of the Drama are almost necessarily not strictly justifiable, in the expectation of doing good for themselves surrounded by the lively and light-hearted, including most of the Was without injuring others. They must invest their customers' money, and nearly all the Witwouds of the day. All this forms materials for in order to get anything by it; and to a sanguine man the difference pleasant and unexacting perusal, when a biographical fit of resolution between a specious speculation and a solid security is not always seizes a veteran of the stage, and, big with the mighty intention, he obvious enough to affect his conscience. It is the system which is in copies from the overloaded tablet of his brain the lively and fugacions fault. It is the law which expressly prevents the establishment of safe matter which, nine times out of téh, is almost all that is there banks (by not allowing more than six partners to each) that we ought recorded. to cry out against. Under the existing system no man knows whether his money is safe with his banker or not-whether the local notes he holds are worth so many pounds, or only as many shillings. Under the existing system, too, the speculating banker may obtain general credit long after he becomes insolvent; while the sound and even wealthy one is liable (as we have just seen in London) to the ruin of Of the very lightest of this class of composition are the Reminis cences of our friend MICHAEL KELLY; forming, as they do, an amusing muster-up of recollections interlarded with attendant characteristic sketches and facetiæ, the latter of which the author has very wisely made the chief feature of his two volumes. Report gives the literary concoction of them to a well-known editor, who, alloying 1 all portion of wit with a great quantity of baser metal, contrives pear rich among the large body of persons with whom a Joseph ce says, French plate is nearly as good as sterling ore. If true, miniscent could scarcely have done better; for his materials are sely such as the great pen in question is adapted to deal with. rtion of doubt, as to exact veracity, might indeed be engenbut who cares much for the exact latitude and longitude of a In respect to panegyric too, players are usually "right royal," esting as their profession does so mainly on patronage, this is onderful. However this may be, the recollective MICHAEL has gratitude to express, and a great horror of Bonaparte and revoto record; which of course is duly done by the pliant scribe ed. In regard to these points, indeed, he seems to feel with as accuracy and discrimination as his countryman, whom he tells applying for relief to Cardinal York, expressed his distaste to Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender." All this is however in cter, and passable enough where we find it. MICHAEL never was tician; he might, to be sure, have performed his friend Sheridan's Burleigh, but even that was out of his line. conclude, this book has much entertained us, and we apprethat it will equally amuse other people, but especially such as, urselves, can remember a great part of the dramatic era which subject of it. KELLY appears to have been a gay-hearted ite, who (dum vivimus, vivamus) would live while he could, ne whose conviviality and musical talent made him welcome to good company, wherein he performed at least one half the ons of Falstaff that of being "the cause of wit in others," , by the way, most good company think the better half. We aber him in the pride of his career at Drury Lane, when he and Crouch were the Paris and Helen of the theatrical world, and out "O thou wert born to please me," to smirking audiences, ll knew that thereby hung a tale. As if only yesterday, we emember the portentous rumour of the attractions of the aforeir Helen reaching a lofty quarter; an accident which possibly es one source of the sympathetic attachment which lasts to this Euclid observes, that two things which are respectively equal ird thing, are equal to one another; whether the axiom applies the third thing happens to be made up of the good graces of a we leave for mathematicians to determine; comparisons are 1. Again and again we assure such of our readers as have not ed these volumes, that there is much very pleasant entertainment ir service; and it is only simple justice to Mr KELLY to observe, e never saw a book more divested of that offensive professional which, although so common, and indeed partly excusable, forms the most repulsive feature of theatrical self-biography. THEATRICAL EXAMINER. COVENT GARDEN. play of four acts was produced at this theatre on Saturday ht, called the Three Strangers; the third representation of which ended on Wednesday last. It is attributed to Miss LEE, and ded on one of her Canterbury tales, being in fact the same story Lord BYRON turned into the drama of Werner. For this reason d ourselves excused from any detail of the plot, with which satisfied most of our readers are acquainted. Taking this point nted, we shall observe, that the crying sin of the piece is its e dramatic construction. There is a want of due developeoth in character and incident, which produces that species of hment which is ultimately more dangerous than more acute The erring Siegendorff was forcibly performed by WARDE, ndeed the only character in the piece which calls for unusual Conrade, the son, affords C. KEMBLE only one effective nity, from a proud disdain, we presume, of treading in tsteps of another not that we think that all the satanic. - of Lord BYRON's Ulric were desirable; but his counterpart o have been made something more than a mere murderer, assinates and becomes melancholy in the old everlasting style. taming down the son, too, the Hungarian, most respectably ed by COOPER, is almost equally paralysed; and indisputably strophe, which is very tame, might have borrowed force and ncy from that of Werner. So much for the sinister side of the on the dexter page, we may observe that there are no want striking passages or situations in this piece, but that, for the rt, the former are moral or descriptive, and the latter linger in which we agree with one JoHN LACEY is the very soul of The interspersed comedy did something in the way of the gasping galleries; but we fear it was all done by BARTLEY ANCHARD in propria persona, rather than by the characters ey represented. What however most amused us in this way -, was, the sight of our old friend CLAREMONT, as Postmaster; he must have rehearsed at the General Post Office; he sorted letters with such official profundity. The most effective of the main interest is concentrated in the fourth act, which, by the mere force of the incident, and the energy of WARDE, excited considerable attention. Upon the whole, however, this is one of the many plays which shows highly respectable talents in the author, but not of a dramatic cast, Melpomene is a coy lady, and it requires a most especial order of talent to woo her successfully. We strongly suspect that highly romantic incident is not the way to propitiate her, unless very skilfully combined with passion and character; she pouts, and says they mistake her for her illegitimate sister Melodrama. We must not forget that Mrs GLOVER and Mrs CHATTERLY had characters, the one totally beneath her, and the other wholly out of her line. We think this more injurious to the reputation of the company at large, than even to that of the performer in particular: it has certainly injured that of the Drury Lane body. There is an uniform, and sometimes a very undeserved, prejudice against actors of all work, and we cannot think the strong appearance of a play-bill, for the few nights of a new play, an equivalent for the more lasting injury. A new Shylock appeared at Drury Lane on Monday night; we saw him not, but will attend a second appearance if" Much virtue in an if." Q. FINE ARTS. ROYAL ACADEMY. Yesterday week, the Annual Distribution of Premiums took place at the Royal Academy, when the following Students received prizes for their performances:→→→→ Mr Wood-The gold medal, and the Discourses of Reynolds and West, for an historical painting, representing" Joseph expounding the Dreams of Pharaoh's Chief Butler and Baker." Mr Deare The gold medal, with the same Discourses, for a model of the Death of Goliah;"an astonishing performance for so young a man, abounding as it does in grace, vigour, and propriety of action. for a National Edifice adapted for the Royal Academy, the Royal Society, Mr Basset-The gold medal, with the same Discourses, for a design and the Society of Antiquarians. Mr Webster-A silver medal, with the Lectures of Barry, Opie, and Fuseli, for the best copy of " a Virgin and Child," by Vandyke a per formance which proves that this young artist has appreciated all the peculiar merits of his attractive original. Mr Fancourt-A silver medal, for the second best copy. Fuseli, for the best drawing from the life. Mr Wood-A silver medal, with the Lectures of Barry, Opie, and Mr Slous A silver medal, for the second best drawing. Mr Deare-A silver medal, with the Lectures of Barry, Opie, and Fuseli, for the best model from the life. Mr Lole-A silver medal, for an architectural drawing of St Stephen's Church, Walbrook, Mr Williams-A silver medal, with the Lectures of Barry, Opie, and Fuseli, for the best drawing from "The Laocoon ;"-a work which does Mr Williams great credit, being equally correct and energetic. Mr Smith-A silver medal, for the second best drawing. Mr Presbury-A silver medal, for the third best drawing. Mr Gallaghan-A silver medal, with the Lectures of Barry, Opie, and Fuseli, for the best model from the same group. ! Mr Panormo-A silver medal, for the second best model. few observations on the subject of the distribution. In speaking of the After Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE had delivered the medals, he made a historical paintings, he alluded to the case of one of the candidates (Mr John Hayter) whose picture had been rejected solely in consequence of some informality in regard to the regulations of the Academy. The President spoke in high terms of this picture, and said that the Academy were sorry to be compelled to reject a work, which otherwise they would have been proud of. Sir Thomas regretted his inability on the present, occasion to deliver a discourse on the Fine Arts, He had returned from the Continent only the day before, and was therefore wholly unprepared for such a task. HOUSE AND WINDOW DUTY. (From the Edinburgh Times.) We give all due credit to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for greater liberality and clearer views in political economy than his predecessors, and also for most sincere wishes to promote the prosperity of his country. Yet we must say, that in all the taxes he has remitted, few have tended directly to augment the comforts or relieve the necessities of the poor; and that, upon the whole, it seems to have been his study to increase wealth, rather than to diminish poverty-to promote the aggrandizement of the nation, rather than the happiness of the people. the extension of trade, all ranks indirectly participate. But this is true It may be replied, that in the prosperity of the country, produced by only in a limited sense; for there still are taxes, levied on those whose circumstances are little if at all ameliorated by the increased freedom of trade, and the facilities afforded to foreign commerce. That the size and rent of a house is a just criterion of the property or and helpless famingdom,. A widow is left with a young without a chum, who ought to have been chummed before ime. This income of its possessor, is a most fallacious idea; yet this is the principle on which the house and window tax was imposed. It would be easy to adduce instances where that theory is inapplicable; consequently, the tax is unequal in its operation, and in so far unjust and oppressive. We shall instance only one case, very common in Edinburgh and every populous city in the any provision for them; and her only resource is to rent a house, for the purpose of letting lodgings. For this she must have many rooms, many windows, and by consequence she must pay a high rent; the house and window tax on which amounts to from five to ten pounds, in some cases even more. Will any one say that this tenant's income is commensurate to the house she occupies; especially when it is considered that a great part of it is perhaps unoccupied during the summer? It is of little value to her, that wine and whisky are to be got cheaper. The former is a luxury, which seldom appears at her table; and the latter, she observes, has only tended to brutify the mob. That portion of the assessed taxes remitted to the farmer, has not reduced the price of butcher meat or of the quartern loaf. Tea and sugar, which are now become an essential part of housekeeping, are not lower, the former, between the exorbitant tax levied by Government, and the rapacious monopoly of the East India Company, is at an enormous price, while the quality is much deteriorated; and the latter, from (what appears to her) the partiality shown to the West India planters, may also be pronounced a monopoly. In a word, there is not a single necessary of life which the remission of taxes has reduced to the dependent widow and a large proportion of society, except salt-yes, there is also a trifling fall in coffee, How many thousands are there in Great Britain, to whom the house and window duty is a most heavy and oppressive burden, and whose circumstances have not been ameliorated, either directly or indirectly, by the taxes which have been repealed! There is also another tax which we consider exceedingly injudicious and impolitic; that is, the duty of three shillings per cent. on insurance against fire. Again take the case of the letters-out of lodgings: it is necessary for them to have their houses well furnished, including a stock of bed and table linen. The insurance to cover this will often be upwards of five hundred pounds; and from the periods of removal, the poliey would fall to be paid at a time when they had felt great difficulty in making up their rent to the landlord. Unable to spare an additional five-and-twenty shillings, the property remains uninsured; an accident happens, and numbers are reduced to beggary. Underwriters have now reduced the premium on common insurance to eighteenpence per cent. while the duty imposed by Government is double that sum. Were the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reduce the duty to one shilling, he would confer a boon on the poor, with a very trifling loss to the treasury; for it is certain, that the number of insurances would at least be doubled, if they could be effected at half the expense. We are repeating what has often been urged at greater length, and with more forcible demonstration. But now that the period is near when the Great Council of the nation again assembles, we consider it the duty of every newspaper to keep the public attention fixed on what we have now stated; that the people may, with one voice, reiterate their call for the repeal of those oppressive and obnoxious taxes; that constituted bodies may ring their prayers in the ears of their representatives; that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in adding to the prosperity of the few, may not overlook the happiness of the many; and that the country may not, in the language of Goldsmith, Bloom a garden and a grave." CASE OF MR DUFRENE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER. SIR,-As the cause of the oppressed can in general find a place in your columns, I beg leave to state, that I have been confined in the King's Bench prison from the year 1812, under extraordinary circumstances; daring which time, I have lived very retired and without being troublesome to the Marshal of the prison in any way whatever. I have manifested a desire to be at peace, but infatuation itself will not suffer me to remain so. Patience and forbearance have their bounds, and the oppressive conduct of the Marshal towards me, which commenced near three years ago, at length compels me to break silence; but in detailing the particulars of his ill-treatment, I shall avoid as far as possible any misrepresentation, and must therefore admit, that, for several years, I was treated with apparent respect by the Marshal and his officers, during which time my case bad several hearings in the Court of Chancery without any decision against me. Several petitions of mine were also presented to Parliament on the subject of the Bankrupt Laws generally, and on my own case in particular. These appearances of the probability of obtaining some redress on my case generally might be the cause of the Marshal's mild behaviour; but when redress appeared to be so delayed as to render it doubtful, he changed his conduct, and instead of being a friend in need, tre berante an enemy in my distress; and the appearance of being deserted by friends, in addition to other disappointments, proved to be the signal for him to lay on, in more ways than one, the hand of oppression. In proof that I avail myself of no improper advantage, and that the Marshal is not taken by surprise, I here subjoin a copy of a letter that I wrote to him on the 12th ult. to which I have not received any reply whatever. viz. id: To William Jones, Esq. Marshal, &and "Sia,On Wednesday last. I was much surprised by a person calling upon me with a chum-ticket upon my room, because, although a great number of prisoners came in on the first day of term, yet, from the pre vious thin state of the prison, there was abundance of room for them; and as the rule of chummage is, that those who have been confined the shortest time are to be chummed first, it was, upon the face of it, highly improper to send me a chum on the first indux of new prisoners, indes pendent of information which I possessed, that there were other prisonen clearly proves that a strong inclination still exists to oppress me, by unnecessarily dragging money from me in this way, which has heretsfore frequently left me without a single sixpence for my support, sades this occasion I was entirely without money for any purpose whatever. But even supposing that every room had been chummed, what justice could there be in putting a person who had been thirteen years in prison, upon an equality, in point of chums, with those who have not been in prison as many weeks? And farther, it is not only my opinion, but that of others also, that a person who has been so many years in confinement as myself ought not to be burthened with having any chum whatever, as length of suffering, in almost all cases, is taken into consideration. I have in vain applied to the chum-master to take off the aforesaid chum from my room, therefore I presume that it is sanctioned by you; and as all my former appeals to you against the improper conduct of the chum-masters towards me have been without avail, I have very little hope that my present appeal will meet with any more attention. Never theless, I deem it proper, in point of form, to apply to you on the subject previous to my laying before the public (which it is my intention to do) all the oppression and ill-treatment that I received from you, from the 26th April 1823, to the 6th of April 1824, not only by your increasing my distress with chums most unnecessarily, but also by exerting your power in that extremity to prevent my obtaining a subsistence through my own exertions, which amounted to nothing short of an obstinate perseves rance in a line of conduct that endangered my life; for I am able u prove, that it severely injured my health, and the effects of a further continuance of such oppression was at that time deemed by medical men as sufficient to terminate my existence.—I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, wn Joun Dufrene.” "King's Bench, No. 2 in 3, Nov. 12th, 1825. not. va în „landia In reference to the latter part of the foregoing letter, it will appear by the inclosed affidavit, that in the autumn of the year 1823, 1 was placed in a peculiarly trying situation, when, having lost some friends by death, and being deserted by others, my health was injured and my life endas gered through the extreme privations which I had suffered; and here I must remark, that in this place there is no allowance for support, as there is in county prisons. Under these circumstances, I was advised to apply to the Marshal for leave to occupy a racquet-ground that was then becoming vacant, in consequence of the person who occupied it obtaining his discharge, which it was supposed might produce mesa subsistenc until I could effect some proper arrangement of my affairs. In applied accordingly to the Marshal; but he refused to comply with my request, stating, that I was an improper person to have the said ground, as it appeared to him that I had been eleven years in prison upon choice; and he immediately allowed a person to occupy it, who was known not to be in want. I need not here enter into further particulars, as they are fully stated in my affidavit. Now let me suppose, respecting the Marshal, that, on his way to his house at Putney, a highwayman were to stop him and demand his purse, but that, perceiving some chance of escape he were to make same resistance, and in consequence get his head broken, what would be say to any of his houshold, if they were to tell him that he had got a broken head upon choice,” because, if he had quietly given up his purse to the highwayman, he might not have been wounded and therefore, instead of condoling with him, they were further to tell him that he was » ai improper person" to have either food or medical aid, and in this condition, not only leave him to perish, but absolutely prevent, as far as it might be in their power, his assisting himself? This has been precisely the treatment that I have received from the Marshal and he is in a still greater degree inexcusable, because he obstinately refused to hear any explanation that I attempted to give him, on the subject of the legal attack which had placed me in my unfortunate situation, bewoce prodw The rock upon which many persons split in judging of my case is.that they treat the subject as though I were refusing to do what proper under a valid commission of bankrupt, instead of considering, at least allowing themselves to be informed, that I am seeking tedress for a trespass committed upon me; and that several lawyers have privately declared to me, that they conceive my case has already been folly made out in open Court, both as to law and fact, under my petition for superceding this illegal commission of bankrupt, which has, for such a length of time, deprived me of my commercial existence, and prevented me receiving a single pound belonging to my estate, and which proceeding was disapproved of from the beginning, by one hundred and eleven creditors of mine, who signed a document in my favour, and signifying their desire that it might be supersededz do 17 de weds of If you will take the trouble to refer to the Examiner of the 7th and the 14th of September, 1817, which contain a full report of the fast bearing under my petition in the Court of Chancery, you will find, that my newarrantable commitment to prison by the Commissioners of Bankrupt was then argued, as likewise the invalidity of the commission itself. In regard to the commitment, it was contended, in the first place, that the 16 sec. 30 cap. 5 Geo. II. allowed “a reasonable objection" to be a selfcient ground for refusing to answer commissions of bankrupt; and secondly, that my declining an examination on the grounds then stated, was founded on a reasonable objection within the extent and meaning of |
