1831.3 Affairx in General. 553 



being architect and dealer, he distinguishes himself by his arrangements 

 with other dealers : — " The committee declare that they are not of opinion 

 that Mr, Nash acquitted himself of the charge of making improvident 

 contracts Avith tradesmen, and especially Avith Mr. Crawshay for iron 

 work. It appears in evidence that IVIessrs. Crawshay and Co., early in 

 July, 1825, contracted to furnish the iron girders for Buckingham house 

 at 17/. a ton, and the pillars at 18/. a ton; and that at the same period 

 ]\Iessrs. Crawshay agreed with the sub-contractors and founders of iron 

 in Staffordshire, to provide the same at 12Z. 10*. for the girders, and \AL 

 for the columns. For that which cost Messrs. Crawshay and Co. 12/. 10*. 

 the public pay 17/.— for what cost 14/. they pay 18/." 



So far a Committee of the House of Commons have sifted the busi- 

 ness, and the result will be easily imagined to ]Mr. Nash. But common 

 sense will conceive that the question cannot stop there. The architect is 

 a man of business, of the Avorld, and of the government world especially. 

 Is it possible to suppose that he encountered the hazard of such a report 

 without looking to protectors ; that he incurred the formidable respon- 

 sibility solely on his own impulse ; or that he could have gone on in 

 making the charges which the comjnittee expose, Avithout the cognizance 

 of some of those persons, let their rank be Avhat it may, whose duty it 

 Avas to check public expenditure, and who must have been perfectly well 

 acquainted with the nature of the charges. We, at least, cannot affect 

 such simplicity. We have no doubt that this rich architectural harvest 

 was never intended to be gathered into the sole garners of the individual 

 before the committee. We shall see. 



These are pleasant times. The reasoners who argue with the pike in 

 hand, Avho give their opinions on public men by smashing their windows, 

 and reform the corruptions of parliament by setting houses on fire, de- 

 stroying farm-yards, and murdering their owners, are everywhere pro- 

 ducing such "conviction of the goodness of their cause," that the 

 country gentlemen are everywhere fortifying their houses, purchasing 

 arms for self-defence, and preparing to stand a siege against the men of 

 purity, freedom, peace, and British privileges. 



The Yeomanry in Derbyshire are already on the alert, to obstruct the 

 progress of Reform into drawing rooms and escrutoirs, in the shape of 

 thieves and incendiaries: — " From an apprehended attack upon Drake- 

 low, the seat of Sir R. Gresley, the Litchfield troop of Yeomanry 

 Cavalry was called out on Tuesday morning, but went no further than 

 the latter place, and returned the same evening. They remain under 

 orders to hold themselves in readiness for service.'' 



The Duke of Newcastle has had a tolerable specimen of the vigour 

 of Reform, in the burning of his house at Nottingham, and he noAV 

 keeps guard upon his family seat, with a little army, as the newspapers 

 represent it, not less than two hundred of his tenants being in readiness 

 to repel an attack upon a nobleman, whom the radicals represent as a 

 tyrant and so forth, but Avho is actually one of the best of landlords, as 

 he is one of the most manly, high-minded, and honest of British 

 senators. The instances are gathering fast, and in the mean while 

 London itself exhibits signs, by no means equivocal, of the march of 

 stone-throwing and mob-violence. The Marquis of Londonderry has 

 quietly al)an(loned his mansion in Park-lane, Avhich liad become a 

 regular object of attack, whenever any hall-dozen ragamuffins thought 



