1825 will answer, and that languor from which we have not yet recovered. There is as much danger of such panics as ever. The cause remains, viz., the insufficient Banks; and the Reviewer required only to make two admissions, which he has made, viz., the insufficiency of capital now employed in Banking, and the certainty of the flow of it to that employment, under a system of Free Banks; he required but to admit this, to finish his own cause, and to ensure the triumph of ours.

3. We object, in the last place, from considerations of prudence, and without reference to its good or bad conduct, to the monopoly of any Bank whose solvency is dependant upon a Government, even though it be the Government of Great Britain. God forbid, that the crisis referred to should occur! and we trust that the kind Providence which keeps the hearts of Kings, will prevent it from ever occurring; but we cannot legislate here upon hopes. We owe it to the country to legislate with reference to possibilities. Suppose, then, a political crisis; and what is our condition? In one half hour Government would be at an end, and the people reduced to a state of barter! This is not a contingency which our Ministers are entitled to brave; especially as the means are in their power to provide a currency based upon real property,-property which would remain,-property, the responsibility of which would be acknowledged, even during the broils of civil war. Lord Althorp may not observe how seriously the Government's stability, during a difficult passage, could be committed by the present arrangements; but we cannot be guilty of the same oversight, in reference to the permanent interests of the empire.

We shall watch the progress of this momentous question with intense anxiety; and it will be curious to notice, if a Parliament calling itself reformed, shall really presume to legislate concerning it, upon the ground of an evidence given by the monopolists themselves, or by others equally interested in the long life of the Lady of Threadneedle Street,-hangerson for her favours,-slumberers within her capacious shadow !

SONG. THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF ELDON AND PEEL.

AIR." The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve.

THE days are gone,-those days of glory,

When I, and every good old Tory,

Enjoy'd our places and our pensions,

And earn'd them well by good intentions!
'Twas then we spurn'd the people's wishes,

And feasted on the loaves and fishes;
While George the Fourth repair'd his palace,
And Judges well supplied-the gallows.

Oh, dear! heigho! regret I feel,

For the good old days of Eldon and Peel.
When a young man,-ere final answer he
Received to bills he'd filed in Chancery,
Grew old and grey, and ceased to smile there,
Whilst Eldon cried, like crocodile there;
And when aroused from doubt and weeping,
He found the barristers all sleeping,-
Till a new Broom, that Whigs call able,
Was sent to cleanse the Augean stable!

Oh, dear! &c. &c.

Great Castlereagh to none would cower,
But well maintain'd the Tories' power;
And Sidmouth, too,-the sage and hoary,—
At Peterloo gain'd laurels gory!

But Castlereagh,—who'd crush'd rights ample,—
Deplored that he'd no more to trample;
And, with the thought grew so besotted,
His stick he cut, and the carotid!

Oh, dear! &c. &c.

Great Wellington,-who'd once been wiser,-
When mad, was made the King's adviser;
And Tories never knew disaster,

Until abroad went the Schoolmaster!"

Then Hume, with Cocker-eyes, went searching,
And "intellect" began a-" marching :"
The march of soldiers I respect, Sirs,
But, curse this "march of intellect," Sirs!
Oh, dear! &c. &c.
When many a tough, time-serving, thorough
Good-going hack possess'd a borough ;
And whether for, or 'gainst the throne, Sirs,
Just as he "pleased did with Ms own, Sirs!"
Then we, from Radical encroachers,
Preserved our laws, like game from poachers,
Until the nation raised a storm, Sirs,
And crush'd us all by their Reform, Sirs!

Oh, dear! &c. &c.

When Wetherell-that man I pity!-
Was deem'd the wittiest of the witty;
For, in the House, he was the very man
That acted long as clown or merry-man;
But, whilst on Boroughbridge he stood, Sirs,
Thinking his footing sure and good, Sirs,
And planning schemes the Whigs to leather all,
The bridge broke down-away went Wetherell !
Oh, dear &c. &c.

Old Charley went, as the Recorder,
To keep Bristolian knaves in order;
Yet, though the first of Tory wit-ites,
No friends he found among the Pit-ites! *
When he in Court began to scold 'em,
They made the town too hot to hold him;
So, o'er the tiles-a tom-cat turning-
He 'scaped from Bristol's buildings burning!
Oh, dear! &c. &c.

Ere Doctor Russell, dark fiends urging,
Of Parliament began the purging,
And plied us with his bitter potions,
Then laugh'd at our uneasy motions ;

Ere sharp retrenchment's sword cut sure, Sirs,
Nor left us healing sine-cures, Sirs;

And William's self,-ah! that's the deep ill,—
Combined against us, with his People!

No refuge now from destitution,

Oh, dear! &c., &c.

Is left me by this Revolution!
All snug close boroughs are abolish'd,
In spite of Hunt's orations-polish'd!
Where'er I go, the little boys all

Pursue my steps, with vulgar noise all,
Exclaiming "Ha! old cove of Gatton,
You've got a bad,—a shocking hat on!"
Oh, dear! heigho! regret I feel,

For the good old days of Eldon and Peel.

The pitmen of the colliery near Bristol were said to have been among the foremost of the rioters.

MISS MARTINEAU'S BERKELEY THE BANKER.*

WE hardly know whether we more admire or esteem Miss Martineau, -whether we more admire her talents, or love her for those kindly feelings which prompt her to use them as she does. Possessed in the highest degree of that discrimination and tact so characteristic of female genius, of sentiment the most refined, and a wide knowledge of man and life, she might, if she chose it, enter the lists with our most gifted, and dispute with them the immortal palm! She thinks, it may be, that the walk she has chosen, is itself the highest; and truly we are not far from agreeing with her. Her compatriots speak to the few-she to the many. A Hemans and a Baillie teach those who are themselves teachers. Miss Martineau comes at once to the multitude; enters the poor man's cottage; strives to sweeten for him all his views of life, and to transform him into an intelligent, a faithful, and a cheerful citizen. Long may she labour! May her "Illustrations" never have an end! If it were in our power, we would compel every living being in our land to take the lessons of our excellent instructress!

Berkeley the Banker is only the first part of a tale; but in itself it is complete. Its object is to illustrate the state of things during the Bank depreciation, and to afford a peep of the terrible bankruptcies of 1814. Pretty incidents of love, and charming portraitures of affection are finely interwoven with its economical wisdom. Berkeley is an honest, decent man, who became partner of the Bank of D, because "Banking was a good concern;" Cavendish, a scoundrel and a swindler, who set up the Haleham Bank, for the single purpose of robbing the people. We shall give a few extracts, beginning with Berkeley's account of a currency riot in the Haleham workhouse.

“Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Cavendish came in together,—just in time to save Fanny's call from appearing inordinately long.

"All over? All safe? How relieved we are to see you!' exclaimed the clergyman. "Safe, my dear Sir? Yes. What would you have had us be afraid of?' said Mr. Berkeley, who, however, carried traces of recent agitation in his countenance and

manner.

"Father!' said Melea, you do not mean to say that nothing more has happened than you meet with from the paupers every week.'

"Only being nearly tossed in a blanket, my dear, that's all. And Pye was all but kicked down stairs. But we have them safe now, the young ladies and all. Ah! Melea; you have a good deal to learn yet about the spirit of your sex, my dear. The women beat the men hollow this morning.

"Mr. Cavendish observed, that the glaziers would be busy for some days; the women within the workhouse having smashed every pane of every window within reach, while the out-door paupers were engaging the attention of magistrates, constables, and governor.

"But what was it all about?' asked Fanny.

"The paupers have been complaining of two or three things for some weeks past, and they demanded the redress of all in a lump to-day; as if we magistrates could alter the whole state of things in a day to please them. In the first place, they one and all asked more pay, because the same allowance buys only two-thirds what it bought when the scale was fixed. This they charged upon Cavendish and me. It is well you were not there, Cavendish; you would hardly have got away again.' "Why, what would they have done with me?' asked Cavendish, with a constrained simper, and a pull up of the head, which was meant to be heroic.

"In addition to the tossing they intended for me, they would have given you a ducking, depend upon it. Heartily as they hate all bankers; they hate a Haleham

* Illustrations of Political Economy, No. XIV.; Berkeley the Banker. By Harriot Martineau. Fox, London.

banker above all. Indeed, I heard some of them wish they had you laid neatly under the workhouse pump.'

"Ha! ha! very good, very pleasant, and refreshing on a warm day like this,' said Cavendish, wiping his forehead, while nobody else was aware that the day was particularly warm. 'Well, Sir; and what did you do to appease these insolent fellows?' "Appease them! O, I soon managed that. A cool man can soon get the better of half-a-dozen passionate ones, you know.'

"The girls looked with wonder at one another; for they knew that coolness in emergencies was one of the last qualities their father had to boast of. Fanny was vexed to see that Mr. Longe observed and interpreted the look. She divined, by his half-smile, that he did not think her father had been very cool.

"I desired them to go about their business,' continued Mr. Berkeley, and when that would not do, I called the constables.'

"Called, indeed!' whispered Mr. Longe to his cousin. 'It would have been strange if they had not heard him.'

"But what were the other complaints, Sir?' inquired Fanny, wishing her father to leave the rest of his peculiar adventure to be told at home.

"Every man of them refused to take dollars. They say that no more than five shillings' worth of commodities, even at the present prices, is to be had for a dollar, notwithstanding the government order, that it shall pass at five and sixpence. Unles therefore, we would reckon the dollar at five shillings, they would not take it.

"Silly fellows!' exclaimed Cavendish. If they would step to London, they would see notices in the shop-windows, that dollars are taken at five and ninepence, and even at six shillings.'

"There must be some cheating there, however,' replied Mr. Berkeley; 'for you and I know that dollars are not now really worth four and sixpence. Those London shopkeepers must want to sell them for the melting pot; or they have two prices.' "Then how can you expect these paupers to be satisfied with dollars?' inquired Melea.

"What can we do, Miss Melea?' said Cavendish. There is scarcely any change to be had. You cannot conceive the difficulty of carrying on business just now, for want of change.'

"The dollars have begun to disappear since the Government order came out, like all the rest of the coin,' observed Mr. Berkeley;' but yet they were almost the only silver coin we had : and when these fellows would not take them, for all we could say, we were obliged to pay them chiefly in copper. While we sent hither and thither, to the grocer's and the draper's

"And the bank,' observed Cavendish, consequentially.

"Ay, ay! but we sent to the nearest places first, for there was no time to lose. While, as I was saying, the messengers were gone, the paupers got round poor Pye, and abused him heartily. I began to think of proposing an adjournment to the court-yard, for I really expected they would kick him down the steps into the street.' "Poor innocent man! What could they abuse him for?' asked Melea. "Only for not having his till full of coin, as it used to be. As if it was not as great a hardship to him as to his neighbours, to have no change. He is actually obliged, he tells me, to throw together his men's wages so as to make an even sum in pounds, and pay them in a lump, leaving them to settle the odd shillings and pence among themselves.'

"With a bank in the same street!' exclaimed Fanny.

"Cavendish declared that his bank issued change as fast as it could be procured, but that it all disappeared immediately, except the halfpence, in which, therefore, they made as large a proportion of their payments as their customers would receive. People began to use canvass bags to carry their change in; and no wonder; since there were few pockets that would bear fifteen shillings' worth of halfpence. The bank daily paid away as much as fifteen shillings' worth to one person. "Mr. Berkeley avouched the partners of the D bank to be equally at a loss to guess where all the coin issued by them went to. Mrs. Cavendish complained of the difficulty of shopping and marketing without change. Miss Egg feared Mr. Longe must be at great trouble in collecting his dues of tithes; and the rector took advantage of the hint to represent his requiring them in kind, as proceeding from consideration for the convenience of the farmers.

"All agreed that the present state of the money system of the country was too strange and inconvenient to last long. Though some people seemed to be growing rich in a very extraordinary way; and there was therefore a party everywhere to insist that all was going right, the complaints of landlords, stipendiaries, and paupers would make themselves be heard and attended to; and the convenience of all who were

concerned in exchanges could not be long thwarted, if it was desired to avoid very disagreeable consequences.

"So the matter was settled in anticipation, by the party in Mr. Cavendish's drawing-room, immediately after which the Berkeleys took their leave, attended by Mr. Longe."

The two banks of course break; Berkeley's goes down quietly, and because of a run occasioned by accident ;-Cavendish's stops when its credit seemed highest, and of course when it could do most harm. The following is the fatal market day at Haleham :—

"The excitement was indeed dreadful. If an earthquake had opened a chasm in the centre of the town, the consternation of the people could scarcely have been greater. It was folly to talk of holding a market, for not one buyer in twenty had any money but Cavendish's notes; and unless that one happened to have coin, he could achieve no purchase. The indignant people spurned bank-paper of every kind, even Bank of England notes. They trampled it under foot; they spat upon it; and some were foolish enough to tear it in pieces; thus destroying their only chance of recovering any of their property. Mr. Pye, and a few other respected townsmen, went among them, explaining that it would be wise at least to take care of the "promise to pay," whether that promise should be ultimately fulfilled or not; and that it would be fulfilled by the Bank of England and many other banks, he had not the smallest doubt, miserably as the Haleham bank had failed in its engagements.

"The depth of woe which was involved in this last truth could not be conceived but by those who witnessed the outward signs of it. The bitter weeping of the country women, who prepared to go home pennyless to tell their husbands that the savings of years were swept away; the sullen gloom of the shop-keepers, leaning with folded arms against their door-posts, and only too sure of having no customers for some time to come the wrath of farmer Martin, who was pushing his way to take his daughter Rhoda from out of the house of the swindler who had plundered her of her legacy and her wages in return for her faithful service; and the mute despair of Rhoda's lover, all of whose bright hopes were blasted in an hour;--his place gone, his earnings lost, and his mistress and himself both impoverished on the eve of their marriage: the desperation of the honest labourers of the neighbourhood on finding that the rent they had prepared, and the little provision for the purchase of winter food and clothing, had all vanished as in a clap of thunder; the merriment of the parish paupers at being out of the scrape, and for the time better off than better men;-all these things were dreadful to hear and see. Even Mrs. Parndon's curiosity could not keep her long abroad in the presence of such misery. She went home heartsick, to wonder and weep; while she told the sad tale to her daughter in a letter of twice the usual length. Enoch Pye retired behind his counter, and actually forgot to examine his stock of bank notes till he had paid his tribute of sorrow to the troubles of those who were less able than himself to bear pecuniary losses. Henry Craig was found wherever he was most wanted. He had little to give but advice and sympathy; but he had reason to hope that he did some good in calming the people's minds, and in showing them how they might accommodate one another. Under his encouragement, a limited traffic went on in the way of barter, which relieved a few of the most pressing wants of those who had entered the market as purchasers. The butcher and gardener did get rid of some of their perishable stock by such an exchange of commodities as enabled the parents of large families to carry home meat and potatoes for their children's dinners. Seldom has traffic been conducted so languidly or so pettishly; and seldom have trifling bargains been concluded amidst so many tears."

This is the work of female genius. Cavendish of course runs off. "Among the many hundreds whom he left behind to curse his name and his transactions, there were some who also cursed the system under which he had been able to perpetrate such extensive mischief. Some reprobated the entire invention of a paper currency; in which reprobation they were not, nor ever will be, joined by any who perceive with what economy, ease, and dispatch the commercial transactions of a country may be carried on by such a medium of exchange. Neither would any degree of reprobation avail to banish such a currency while convenience perpetually prompts to its adoption. Others ascribed the whole disaster to the use of small notes, urging that, prior to 1797, while no notes of a lower denomination than £5 were issued, a run on a bank was a thing almost unheard of. Others, who esteemned small notes a convenience not to be dispensed with, complained of the example of inconvertibility set by the Bank of England; and insisted that methods of ensuring converti