Social England under the Regency, Vol. 1 (of 2). Ashton John

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СКАЧАТЬ charity did not end here, for there was also another fund begun "for Relief of Portuguese sufferers during the French Invasion," which, on the 21st of June, amounted to nearly £52,000. The West End, evidently tried to emulate the City, and at Willis's Rooms, under the presidency of the Duke of York, there was a "Fund for the Relief of the Unfortunate Sufferers in Portugal – who have been plundered and treated by the French Armies with the most unexampled barbarity." By June 29th this had reached £15,000.

      Silver, as we have seen, had got, to use a mercantile phrase, "a little easier," but the Guinea! it was almost as scarce as Russian gold coins are now, and, in spite of every effort, it was quoted at a premium, and yet was exported. Here is a Police report, anent it: "Mansion House, 23rd of April. James King, guard of the Yarmouth mail coach, was brought up for examination, upon a charge of purchasing eight guineas, the Coin of this realm, at a price considerably beyond their current value. The Charge was brought by Mr. Nalder, the Under Marshal of the City of London; who, in consequence of information received from the Treasury, that there were persons about town employed as agents to purchase guineas for exportation, made diligent enquiry, and having found out the defendant, he marked eight guineas, and went with Sayer, the Bow Street officer, who sold those guineas to the prisoner, and received for each £1 5s. 6d. Mr. Nalder shortly afterwards took the prisoner into custody, found the marked guineas upon him, and brought him before the Lord Mayor; the transaction being against the Statute of the third of Edward III., which subjects offenders to the penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and fine at the discretion of the Court. The defendant was admitted to bail." Ultimately he was fined forty shillings.

      On the 6th of May the officers rummaged a smack called the Union, and found, in a hole between the timbers, seven canvas bags containing 4,500 guineas, making in all 11,128 guineas found in that vessel.

      The greater part of May was taken up by the discussion in the House of Commons of the Report of the Bullion Committee, which recommended the resumption of specie payments by the Bank of England as speedily as possible. This was negatived, on the ground that the Bank paper was not depreciated – but, as a matter of fact, it was. Vide the following letter from Lord King to his tenants: —

      "By lease, dated 1802, you have agreed to pay the annual rent of – in good and lawful money of Great Britain. In consequence of the late depreciation of paper money, I can no longer accept of any bank notes at their nominal value in payment of your rent in the legal coin of the realm; at the same time, having no other object than to receive payment of the real intrinsic value of the sum stipulated by agreement, and being desirous to avoid giving you unnecessary trouble, I shall be willing to receive payment in either of the manners following, according to your option —

      "1st. By payment in guineas.

      "2nd. If guineas cannot be procured, by a payment in Portugal gold coin, equal in weight to the number of guineas requisite to discharge the debt.

      "3rd. By a payment in Bank-paper of a sum sufficient to purchase (at the present market price) the weight of standard gold requisite to discharge the rent. The alteration of the value of paper money is estimated in this manner.

      "The price of gold in 1802, the year of your agreement, was £4 per oz.; the present market price is £4 14s., owing to the diminished value of paper – in that proportion, an addition of £17 10s. per cent. in paper money will be required as equivalent for the payment of rent in paper.

"(Signed) King.

      "N.B. – A power of re-entry and ejectment is reserved by deed in case of non-payment of rent due. No draft will be received."

      This gave rise to a pictorial jeu d'esprit entitled "Jew King," depreciating Bank notes. A farmer, of the then typical John Bull type, has called on Lord King to pay his rent, and says to him, "I be come to pay you some money! but I cannot get Guineas for love nor money! so you must take Bank Notes. – Why! no person ever refused them before." To which Lord King replies, "I tell you I will have Guineas. If I take Bank Notes I will have 20 per cent. I like good profit." With one hand he points to some Guineas, and, on the table, are the "Laws of Landlord and Tenant," and "Tables of Interest."

      Earl Stanhope, on the 27th of June, in consequence of Lord King's action, introduced a Bill into the House of Lords to prevent the Gold coin from being paid or received for more than its nominal value, or the Bank paper for less. In the course of the debate he stated that guineas were publicly bought at Manchester, at an advance of twenty per cent. by persons from Ireland, for the purpose of paying their landlords, who insisted on gold: and the Earl of Lauderdale declared that he knew an instance, where a landlord called upon his tenants to pay in gold; and the latter having represented to the steward the impossibility of procuring gold, they were each told that there were 100 guineas at a Chandler's shop in the neighbourhood, which might be purchased; and it was a fact, that with those 100 guineas, passing from one to another, a rent of £7,000 was actually paid. The Bill passed both Houses, and received the royal assent on the 24th of July.

      In The Morning Chronicle of the 11th of July we find: "It has been for several weeks a known and common practice, at one shop in the City, for a man to have a twenty-shilling note, and a dish of fish, for a guinea." And so it was after the passing of Earl Stanhope's Act, the guineas were still bought at an advanced price, and the first Commitment under the Act is recorded in the same paper of Monday, the 9th of September, 1811: "On Friday sen'night Adkins, the Bow Street officer, arrived at Worcester, in pursuit of one Thomas Woodford, who was known to have dealt pretty largely in guineas; having found him, Adkins offered him eight guineas, and three half-guineas, for which Woodford gave him £10 18s. 6d. in Bank of England Notes. – He was immediately apprehended, and committed to gaol."

      It was no use trying to fight the purchase of these precious coins: every plan possible was put in force – How is this? "Lost – Eight Guineas – Whoever may have found the same, and will bring them to – shall receive ten pounds reward." It was all of no use, the guineas used to be smuggled out of the Country as much as ever, and on July 3rd, in the Court of King's Bench, in the case of De Yonge, who had been convicted of purchasing guineas for more than 21 shillings, and whose case had been reserved for the opinion of the twelve judges, it was decided that such purchase was not an offence punishable under the existing laws.

      CHAPTER V

A smuggler's victim – Illness of Gilray – A gallant highwayman – A Witch – Bartholomew Fair – The Comet – A Practical joke on the Queen – Woman's Cricket Match – Ballooning – French prisoners of war – Luddite riots – The King and his physicians – His health

      The odds and ends of gossip for July may be taken briefly as follows – Smuggling was very common, and our grandfathers had not the faintest notion that they were doing wrong in purchasing wares that had never paid the King his dues. In fact, many were proud of it. Sometimes they got sold, as the following story will vouch for. It happened that in Windsor and its neighbourhood, a woman, clad in a long red cloak, appeared, calling about dusk at several houses with a sample of excellent Cognac brandy. She stated that her husband was waiting at a little distance with several casks of the same, which they could sell at a very low price. Several people agreed to take Casks, which were duly delivered, and the money for which was properly paid. Alas! alas! when the brandy came to be tapped it was nothing but water.

      Poor Gilray, the Caricaturist, from whom I have so much borrowed, and who exemplified the manners of his times as well as ever Hogarth did, had been ill, and had knocked off work for some time – yet he still lived at Mrs. Humphrey's house in St. James Street, attempted, while in a fit of delirium, to throw himself out of the attic storey window. Luckily for him there were iron bars to that window, and his head got jammed, which, being perceived by a Chairman waiting outside White's Club, who instantly went to render assistance, he was extricated, and proper persons were appointed to take care of him. Poor Gilray etched his last picture in 1811, and it was entitled, "Interior of a Barber's Shop in Assize Time," but it was not published until May 15, СКАЧАТЬ