May 11.] 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



tfce 



w lieu of prize-money 



Zd the 28th Feb., 1844, six 



ley. About 50,000 



The Madras 47th 



% »r., DQ ^ to go to Senide, have 



w^ test on 10 n.u » fc f r various periods. 



ST ^.^Ut^Urthe ..eau/of the 



h Feb., 1843. 

 ^ +JH» these donat.ons 



tH teeo"" 



of tbe country generally, are 



■Ji the condUion o t£ «« - J^ Tionnt 



^o To^f* e r ^ :67 H w y ere in hospital; 

 *««•«* to 40 7 an > shikarpore there were 



tiK^f Mta nospitl The Punjaub continues 

 ! ^^i and waa likely to come to a crisis during 

 to|Tt ?rVwalioris peaceful, and the remainder of 

 tke month, ^ected to leave on the 1st March. The 



^K^istln is still conflicting, though 

 jjteUigf nee f om a f> marching on Pesha . 



tke P^^bty ot l A baU and supper| 



WV W V£lescZ was given to Lord Ellenborough 

 I: Z t* la Calcutta." Nearly 1000 ladies and 

 ^en mostly of the Civil Service, were present. 

 ESW.it appears, setting out again to the 

 £T«£-and the conquest of the Punjaub is supposed 

 jE* chief intent. India generally is quiet The m- 

 Xe^cVfrom China reaches to Feb. 2/, but there is 

 jSK moment. Three of the pirates concerned in 

 Se^nrder of Dr. M'Kinlay, of her Majesty s 18th 

 Rviaent, and the three Portuguese sailors, mentioned 

 e time back, have been seized by the authorities and 

 anered to be decapitated ; and the leader of the gang, 

 ferine been sentenced to be cut in pieces, escaped the 

 p^iihment by dying in prison. Extensive robberies are 

 itiil perpetrated at Canton and at the ports, despite the 

 utmost vigilance of the authorities. The death of Assist- 

 ant Commissary-General Irving is mentioned. He had 

 only been a feir weeks on the island, but his health was 

 broken from his long residence on the coast of Africa. 



parliament. 



HOUSE OF LORDS. 

 Friday.— The Lord Chaxcbllo** in moving that the House 

 solve itself into a committee on the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, 

 stated its purport, and the reasons for its introduction. The 

 object of the Bill is to stay much prospective litigation, of the 

 suae nature as that which has rendered Lady Hewley's chari- 

 ties familiar in Westminster Hall, and to every newspaper 

 reader. For this purpose, it proposes to terminate all further 

 lejal controversy respecting the right to voluntary endowments 

 connected with dissenting chapels, by vesting the property in 

 the religious body in whose hands it may have been for the 

 preceding 10 years. —The Bishop of London opposed the Bill. 

 It sanctioned the illegal use of a trust ; and it would be ex post 

 /otto legislation to convey endowments, founded for religious 

 purposes, to objects and opinions wholly contrary to those for 

 which they were originally intended, it would be more just to 

 taka the first twenty rather than the last twenty years of the 

 application of a chapel, as the evidence of the intention of the 

 founder of the endowment. He moved that the bill be considered 

 In committee that day six months. — Lord Brougham supported 

 the Bill, as tending to prevent much litigation, by rendering it 

 unnecessary to inquire into the peculiar tenets of the founder, 

 where there was an actual possession for 20 years. It was not 

 an unusual thing for individuals to bequeath sums to chapels 



n b ^l d0Ctrines were tau £ ht different from their own.— The 

 Bishop of Exitbr and Lord CotT«nham both addressed the 

 Hoaaeat considerable leogth, against and for the Bill; they 

 were followed by Lord Campbell; after which the Bishop of 

 I-owdom intimated that he would not press his amendment, as 



if Pu eived nenaa no chance of carrying it. The whole Bench 

 or Hjshops then left the House. --Lord Tkvniiam opposed the 

 SH« I w hich the amendment was negatived without a divi- 

 ««>o. and the Bill went through committee. 

 tir J jT^ , T TneMAR Q lJE ssof Clanricardr moved a resolu- 

 *** censuring the appointment of Mr. O'Brien to the office of 



Ut2» ! rymaffl8trate in Ireland, which he considered calcu- 

 lator i U1Sh cont1dence ir » the impartial administration of 

 teEin'~^ 0rd WlIARN< 'hyve defended the appointment, con- 

 limiJ the char K e was one in effect against the Lord 



Mrrvn "* and the Iri8a Gov ernment, which, in appointing 

 «r.uBrien, intended to mark their disapproval of the Repeal 

 cedSif bjr . eitendin S patronage to an individual who had se- 

 Maronll 0nn •* V"" A short discussion followed, in which the 

 HabdiT 8 Nor)UNBF « Lor d Brougham, and the Earl of 

 of Cla «" t0ok part; and « after a re P lv from the Marquess 

 Tuetd , 1CARDK ' the motion was negatived without a division. 

 ^^wy.-Lord Monteagle noticed an article which ap- 

 of the int^r n ? WSpaper on tne subject of the proposed reduction 

 cttbtaatoe ? eposits in sa vings banks, and which was cal- 



ti °ainK detw^> e m to tne depositors, for the purpose of cau- 

 lks? H? I ltor *. f rom withdrawing their money from those 

 redaction "of in? 6 °P inion that the principle of the proposed 

 of Lord BaoiVr * lWas ri « ht and equitable.— On the motion 

 Bill wa« read » *' the Cre d'tors and Debtors Arrangement 

 brought on a iti« 8econd time — The Marquess of Normanby 

 kord £'!enboro irh USS1 ° n res P ec t'»ng the reasons of the recal of 

 was anwillinetn He did not maK e a formal motion, as he 

 deuce were ali P «r ? reSS '*■ if the P r °duction of the corre3pon- 

 E *ri of R, P0V !Jj .. l .° be injurious to the public service.— The 

 °f the Crown hi » that * ° n his responsibility as a Minister 

 *ta production wr,M Compell€d to ref use the correspondence; 

 fl * t embarras.^ ' , cause S re at injustice to Lord Ellenborough, 

 ■** injurious a"! w SUc cessor, and, above all, would be 



<* *ff*irs in India , . n i Conve,,ieat to the general administration 

 b 7 the Court S *n • lnou S h "e deeply regretted the step taken 



1^^ they had h« lreCt °/ S * Lord Ripon said » e felt ful, y per " 

 !*• *n honest cell" ! nfluenc ed in doing so by no other motive 

 ^ country y°" v,ctlo n that they wer e doing their duty to 

 "frained from na«, r motlves » he believed, were sincere, but he 

 J*«d as much n» * any °P ir »io>» «n their policy; and he only 

 **° ? enim ent .nrf , i'l P art «f their Lordships towards the 



2 1 tfa e Duke of w^ Ellenb orough.^-Lord Brougham spoke ; 

 W * ct »n alteraMnn LLIN ' CTON declared that he bad no wish to 

 ? *° cnpple thV nr 1 " le cha r»er of the East India Company, 

 f u »«iCAa D i i LoM n ers of the P ir cctors.-The xMarquess of 

 ^ C *»«r»air t,^v° LCHESTRR ' th eEarlofWiN€HEi.SEA,and 

 •act rt LL to °^ part in thP rii M „. .„;..,. «tt«.p 



p — dropDed -»tvT pa , rt ,n the discussion, after which the 



£? Wu -i.ia>! Tintim.f h ^ of D a, -hol'sik, in reply to Earl 



2^ ttni cation wi! „2 that as tne whole subject of railway 



lS** of Cornmon. "« r COns i dera tion of a committee of the 

 ^ Uah A „ij : . ,,s » lt was nnt exi^iant o,., rh» umu* nt 



following Bills :— The Exchequer-bills 18,407,000/. Bill, the Inter- 

 national Copyright Bill, the Dean Forest luclosure Bill, the 

 Great Western and Cheltenham Railway Bill, the Norwich and 

 Brandon Railway Bill, the South Western and Guildford Railway 

 Bill, the Midland Counties Railway Bi 1, the Manchester and 

 Leeds Railway Bill, the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway 

 Bill, the Manchester and Birmingham Railway B 11, the 

 Derby Junction Railway Bill, the Severn Navigation Bill, 

 the Leeds Navigation Bill, the Birmingham Canal Bill, 

 the Gloucester Market Bill, the Rochdale Gas Bill, the Li- 

 verpool Gas Bill, the Durham County Canal Bill, the Old 

 Brickhill Estate Bill, and several other inclosure and naturalisa- 

 tion Bills.— The Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, 

 the Duke of Buccleuch, and Earl Shaftesbury.— The Bail in 

 Error Bill passed though committee.— The Recovery of Debts 

 in Ireland Bill also passed through committee. — The Duke of 

 Richmond moved for certain returns relative to the duty on 

 foreign wools. In doing so the noble duke said, that it was 

 natural that he should feel anxious on the question, seeing 

 it was intended by the Government to take off the duty on 

 foreign wool imported into this country ; this he 

 considered to be one step towards free trade. By reducing 

 the duty the best interests of our Australian colonies, now 

 already much depressed, would be still further injured. 

 He thought the people of England ought to be treated like the 

 growers of the Continent; the last time the wool duty was 

 reduced the Americans laid an additional duty upon our 

 woollen manufactures admitted into the ports of the United 

 States.— The Earl of Dalhousie said he had no objection to 

 produce the returns; he was not individually to say whether 

 Ministers had had any communication with foreign powers as to 

 whether they would make an equivalent reduction on their parts 

 on the admission of English goods. This he would say, that the 

 depression in the wool trade did not arise from the reduction of 

 the duty; the importation of foreign wool was the means of en- 

 hancing the price of the home manufacture.— After some further 

 discussion the returns were ordered. 



•hould 



interfere. 



not expedient that the House of 



our of agricultural pro- 



»ti_- -ere presented hv th» ,;'""" * u ia>»ur or agricunuiui piu- 

 2K U « -The leading k • Duke 0f K'CHmond and Lord Re- 

 kE^' Chapel bui R ^ ,S T 8S Wa8 ^ third reading of the 

 E?J? tQe Bi»hon ot Kt Ji 1 ^ raiSe . U aome d ^ussion, being op- 



•«5&r A "J}* of petitions i n fav , 



ented by the I3 uke of r I( 

 fading bu Sine8s was £ 



S?2»«, MwmXIi^MAJ* £*ri of WiHCHiweA, Lords 



*ere ,,um,, er of petit 



L « -Thread Vl V K he - 1>uke 0f R'Chmo.vd and Lord Re- 

 , «e leading busmen- wa„ ♦*.<> »wi-a ^.^;..„ „r tK« 



m ^^!mS^SSSli^ *««"«« A division was taken, 



y Asse °t was gi ven by commission to the 



***$ 



HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

 Friday. — After Mr. Roebuck's speech on the impropriety of 

 any interference with labour, the purport of which was stated 

 briefly in our last, Sir J. Graham said he was satisfied that due 

 consideration for the working classes might be combined with 

 an enlightened view of what was conducive to their best in- 

 terests. The principle of the existing law was non-interference 

 with adult labour ; and the present Bill was but carrying out 

 that protection to young persons which the Legislature sanc- 

 tioned in 1833. It was true that the Bill interfered with adult 

 female labour ; and he confessed that this was a departure from 

 principle. But it had been found that machinery could not be 

 generally worked profitably and safely for a longer period than 

 twelve hours ; and the great majority of the manufacturers 

 were favourable to such a restriction, in order to check the un- 

 fair operations of competing manufacturers, who brought odium 

 on the great body, by working their machinery and their work- 

 people for a longer period. Females being the weaker portion 

 of the community, were peculiarly entitled to their protection ; 

 and as it had been proved that twelve hours ought to be a 

 limit for their toil, he took his stand upon this, which, 

 though indirectly a practical interference with all adult labour, 

 was calculated to be beneficial— Mr. Laholi hicrk and Capt. 

 Rous supported Mr. Roebuck's amendment. — Lord Howick op- 

 posed it, on the ground that they had delayed interference too 

 long. If they did not take a bolder course than they had hitherto 

 done, there was great danger of their being overtaken by some 

 frightful calamity. The Bill, though a feeble and hesitating 

 commencement, was yet the prelude to this bolder course: in 

 this view, it mattered little whether the twelve or the ten 

 hours were adopted; having established the principle of in- 

 terference, it would be impossible to draw back. Let them avert 

 the injurious consequences, if these would result, by throwing 

 down all artificial restraints and commercial monopolies, which 

 lay at the bottom of the whole question.— Sir R. Peel thought 

 it was important that they should understand what was meant 

 by "principles." General rules in legislation were matters of 

 expediency rather than of rigid truth ; and in passing a law, the 

 rule should be, to consider if the good which would result from 

 it would more than counterbalance the inconvenience of its 

 enactment. He admitted that the care of national wealth was 

 not the only duty of a Government; and freely confessed that 

 the moral and intellectual improvement of the working popula- 

 tion had been too much neglected by the Legislature. But if 

 you laid down what was called a great general principle, and 

 insisted on its general application, though individual cases of 

 benefit might result, a system of intolerable domestic inquisi- 

 tion would be established, the people would be subjected to 

 the supervision of a whole army of inspectors and sub- 

 inspectors, their whole national character would be changed, 

 and they would be trained to a helpless dependence on wnat 

 Government could do for them. If a limitation to ten hours 

 were followed, as it would be, by increased competition, and a 

 struggle between profits and wages, and a diminution of the 

 comforts of the workmen, the only consequence of this at- 

 tempt to promote morality by law would be the defeat of 

 their own object. The principles laid down by Lord Howick 

 would justify a compulsory attendance at church. The people 

 had grown up under a system of freedom of action, and the 

 manly habits acquired by it would be entirely changed by inter- 

 ference. In certain cases where children were deprived of 

 proper parental control, and with married females, they were 

 bound to interfere and protect where necessary ; and admitting 

 that the principle of the Bill of 1833 was a correct one, the pre- 

 sent Bill was an improvement of the law. It was true that the 

 interference with adult female labour was an exception, and 

 clearly a departure from principle; but the benefits which 

 would result would more than counterbalance any inconve- 

 nience.— Lord J. Ri/ssell said Sir R. Peel's speech was an able 

 argument for the repeal of the Act of 1S3J, rather than a defence 

 of the Bill before the House. He believed that the result of 

 that Act had been beneficial; and in carrying interference 

 farther he would be guided by facts and investigation into 

 actual evils, and the best mode of remedying them. Mr. Roe- 

 buck, who had not gone very deeply into the question, had im- 

 puted motives to him and his friends, in the course which they 

 had taken in supporting Ixjrd Ashley's motion. The learned 

 Member for Bath had better not interfere in this matter ; he 

 was hardly entitled to set himself up as the absolute wisdom of 

 the House, or to question the motives of other men. Though 

 opposed to the amendment he thought that interference should 

 be confined to persons under twenty-one, and leading gradually 

 to a limitation to ten hours.— Mr. Ward, Mr. C. Wood, Mr. 

 Philips, and Mr. Parker supported the amendment; Mr. 

 Ainswoeth and Mr, Field en opposed it.— Lord A.*hlev 

 said he had intended to abstain from all share in this 

 discussion, and to reserve himself for the debate on 

 the limitation of the hours of labour but he would 

 now bring forward documents, in order to substantiate 

 his former statements respecting the condition of the factory 

 population. A formal document, signed oy Mr. H. .\shwortb, 

 had given a distinct contradiction to his allegations as to the 

 distance travelled by the operative during a day. There was a 

 difference between them ; for while Mr. Ashwoith's calculations 

 were taken from the distance travelled by the spinner, he. 

 Lord Ashley, had given the distance which the piecer had to 

 walk, which was double ; and a committee of 3i operatives had 

 since confirmed his accuracy. Mr. Kenworthy, who had been 

 an operative, and had risen to a partnership m one of the 

 greatest establishments in Europe, had published a letter « ln 

 which he used language, in speaking of the evils of the factory 

 system, stronger than anything that had proceeded I from nun ; 

 and he was confirmed by clergymen, residents, and workmen 



in manufacturing towns, who were familiar with what they 

 described. With this corroborative evidence, which he adduced 

 in considerable detail, he felt justified in affirming that his 

 honour and integrity were vindicated, whatever opinion might 

 be entertained as to the soundness of his judgment. —After some 

 further remarks, the House divided— For Mr. Roebu* reso- 

 lution, ;d; against it, 282; majority, 206. The House then 

 went into committee pro forma on the Hill. 



Monday. — A new writ was ordered to issue for the 

 borough of Abingdon, in the room of Mr. Dunned, who hae 

 accepted the Chiltern Hundreds.— The House went into com- 

 mittee on the Bank Charter, and Sir R. Peel rose to move a 

 series of resolutions respecting that charter ami the banking 

 system of the country. He observed upon the extensive effects 

 which the decision of the House upon the matter of these reso- 

 lutions must produce throughout ail the transactions of society. 

 The Act of 1833 had given to the Bank a term to expire in 1855, 

 unless before August, 1844, notice should be given to the Bank 

 that Parliament meant to deal anew with the subject. The 

 Government now proposed that Parliament should exercise this 

 power of notification. He was sure the House would address 

 itself to the question without party bias: he would even ask, if 

 it were permitted him to do so, that gentlemen would be con- 

 tent for that night to hear attentively, without expressing any 

 opinion, — that they should reserve all observations until they 

 should have taken time to consider the suggestions of Govern- 

 ment. He adverted to the manifesto put forth by the country 

 bankers; he would not blame them, in a matteraffectingtheir own 

 interests, for having thus solicited the aid of Me ers towards 

 a combined resistance; but he must express his hope that 

 members would deem it their duty to decline that indiscrimi- 

 nate invitation. It would be necessary for him, he said, in the 

 first place, to consider the principle of value ; because, ho 

 feared, there was not a universal agreement as to what really 

 constituted the measure of value. First, he would inquire, 

 what was a pound? and what was the engagement to pay a 

 pound? Surely, the word "pound" meant something more 

 than an abstraction ; in his opinion, it meant a eertain weight 

 of precious metal of a certain fineness , and the engagement of 

 a maker of a promissory note was to pay on demand a definite 

 amount of that metal and fineness. A real measure of value, 

 in this just sense, had existed till the year 1797, when bank 

 paper became issuable without convertibility into metal. For 

 some years the subject attracted little attention, until the Bul- 

 lion Committee ot 1810 propounded a sounder theory. That 

 theory, however, was then unsatisfactory to a great part or the 

 public; and a notion became verv general that a pound was 

 merely an abstraction. He quoted some of the current defini- 

 tions of that time, whose vagueness excited a good deal of 

 laughter. Similar inaccuracy of opinion seemed to prevail at 

 this day, if he was to judge from the pamphlets now in circula- 

 tion, particularly from one lately published at Birmingham. It 

 was said, that the change of times required a new standard of 

 value; but just as reasonably might it be urged, that because 

 population had increased, and the railway system widely ex- 

 tended, the foot measure ought henceforth to contain id inches. 

 The reason why an ounce of gold cost 3/. 17*. lo^rf. in silver 

 was, that this is the real proportion of the one metal to the 

 other; and if you meant to give a certain advantage to all 

 debtors, you should do so by way of a direct discount, and not 

 say that an ounce of gold, really worth 3/. 17*. m$rf. of silver, 

 shall be worth 5/. for the future; for here the dealers iu those 

 metals would assuredly defeat you. Some writers had argued 

 that gold was unfit to be a circulating medium, because it was 

 an article of commerce ; but that was the reason which in his 

 judgment made it peculiarly fit to be a circulating medium. If 

 any man could controvert his definition of a pound, and of an 

 engagement to pay a pound, let that man produce his own 

 definitions. He would now state his views respecting the prin- 

 ciple for the regulation of a paper currency. He took a clear 

 distinction between bills of exchange and those promissory 

 notes which, being payable to bearer, served the direct purposes 

 of money. The first Lord Liverpool, a high authority, had en- 

 forced this important distinction bet ween paper creuit and a paper 

 currency. Iu his time, as in ours, the attempt was made to deter 

 the State from improving the paper currency, by the fear of in- 

 juring paper credit. Adhere to the standard of value and to the 

 principle of convertibility lor your promissory notes, and 

 there will be nothing to fear from any quantity of bills of 

 exchange. But he did not agree that mere convertibility was 

 of itself a sufficient guarantee against an overissue of promis- 

 sory notes. Observe the fate of the American issues, and the 

 paralysis which had followed that case was a strong illustration 

 that convertibility alone was not a sufficient guarantee. He 

 would now state tne outline of the practical measure* which he 

 was prepared to recommend. The Bank of England was the 

 instrument by which he proposed to regulate the future issues 

 of circulating paper. With this view he would divide that esta- 

 blishment into two wholly distinct departments, one for banking 

 and one for issue, with separate accounts and separate officers. 

 The future issues would rest on two foundations. The public 

 bringing bullion would be entitled to receive notes for it, as, 

 conversely, they would be entitled to receive gold for their 

 notes, and bullion, therefore, would be one foundation of issue. 

 The other would be securities; and the amount issuable on these 

 would be limited to 14,000,000/., of winch ll.vuo.oouL would con- 

 sist of the loan borrowed of the Bank by the public. There would 

 be a complete publicity of the banking accounts and the issues, 

 which would be announced weekly. With respect to other bauks, 

 he was ol opinion that their general banking operations were not 

 properly the subject of control ; but with respect to issues the 

 public had a right to intervene ; and he proposed, therefore, that 

 no new bank of issue should be tstabiished, and that hanks al- 

 ready existing should not increase the amount of their issues, to 

 be calculated upon an average of the last two years. He in- 

 tended to ask some legal facilities lor general hanking, by giv- 

 ing power to joint-stock banks to sue and be sued, by removing 

 the present disability of the metropolitan joint-stock banks to 

 accept bills at a shorter date than six months, and by some 

 other accommodations. He would require, on tne other hand, 

 the frequent publication of the partners' names and of the issues, 

 but not of the general affairs of the private and joint stock 

 banks. The terms whicn had been negotiated w.th the Bank of 

 England for these new arrangements were [in addition to the 

 particulars before specified; the continuance of the already- 

 mentioned loan of 11,000,000/., and an annual payment by tne 

 bank to the public of 00,000/., in addition to the price of 120,000/-. 

 ayear, which they paid for their already-existing privileges. The 

 new arrangement would eudure to tne Bank 01 England for 10 

 years, subject to revision by Parliament, and the private and 

 joint-stock banks wouid be liable to a reconsideration of their 

 position by Government at the end of iu years, when it might be 

 deemed expedient to concentrate ail banks of issue into one. For 

 Ireland aud Scotland he did not propose to legislate at present, 

 except to the extent of pronibiting new banks o; issue, and of 

 requiring that the new banks, not 01 issue, should be subject to 

 registration, and to certain other checks to be exercised by the 

 Government. Sir R. Peel, after going fully through these pro- 

 positions, recapitulated tuem all in a more summary form, 

 observing that the effect of the control to be vested iu the 

 Bank over issues of paper would be to place those issues 

 Under the influence ot the foreign exchanges. Having thus 

 .-.tated his outline, he hoped that the House and individual 

 members would anstain from pronouncing any opini m ; then, 

 especially as he intended to lay beiore the House tne corres- 

 pondence of the Government with the Bank «.t England, which 

 must necessarily throw much additional light opon the w**ol9 

 subject. He concluded by alluding to tne sausfac »n whichhe, 

 asthe author of the Cuirency Bill, must receive from the com- 

 plete tu. lament of his own principles,— aud to the still greater 

 gratification which on public grouuds he siiouiu feel, in having 



