the Catholics, according to the most approved Brunswick methods;but he predicts, that "the way is now made open, by honourable enactment, for men of all persuasions to vie in promoting the interests of their king and country." Bravo! When astrologers can talk common sense, there is some hope that even a Duke of Newcastle may reform in due season. But Francis Moore still prognosticates about the weather;-still talks of Saturn as producing storms in January ;— still prophesies "the death of his Holiness;"-still gives a column of the influence of the moon's signs on the body-" hams, legs, ancles, feet," and other parts, too numerous and disgusting to mention ;-and still argues, that the Turkish war will be greatly affected by Jupiter being in his own house. He evidently prophesies in trammels. Like old Lilly, he is desirous of spending the remainder of his days in peace; and is, therefore, "careful of launching out too far in the deep." We are half sorry for him. He weeps over his old companion Robin, with something like human sympathies. "How silent are the approaches of death!-how unseen are the trap-doors of the grave!". Poor fellow! We venture to prophecy that he will die harmless, with all his teeth out. He is truly become an object of commiseration. His prophecies are hawked in the streets by the venders of ballads. We have before us all his prognostications for the year 1829, with hieroglyphics, ten times more wondrous than his own,-and all for a penny. He could fall no lower.

5. "Moore Improved" is somewhat more impudent in his astrology than his great ancestor. He is particularly adapted for farmers; and he pays them the compliment to think that they will endure his prophecy longer than the rest of mankind. The agriculturists are certainly still somewhat wedded to old customs and opinions; but they are not the men they were, when the almanac-makers published, what some still continue, "A table shewing what sign the moon is in (and the part of the body it governs,) being of excellent use for the direction of any person that deals in cattle." We understand that this dainty information is still given for the special information of the farmers. They must feel the honour which is paid to their intellectual progress.

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6. But the Stationers' Company have at length published an excellent and cheap popular Almanac. Its information is perfectly pure and inoffensive;-it is beautifully printed; and, with the exception of the List of Quarter Sessions, and several minor matters, is very accurate. This publication is the highest mark of respect that could have been paid to the Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The editor of the "Englishman's Almanac" (the new one of the Stationers) attempts to sneer at the pretensions of the Society, by saying, that he has not attempted to delude either himself or the public with the idea that he has prepared an annual publication which shall be useful to all classes." But the Stationers' Company, in the same advertisement declare, that their object "is to present, in a small compass, all classes of society with much useful, interesting, and diversified information." They have accomplished their object, whatever the modesty of their editor may think. They have produced the best imitation of the British Almanac which has yet appeared. They have wisely associated themselves in the same good work as the Society

for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge-the attempt to beat imposture out of the field by common sense and good taste.

Every one must see that, by the side of this new almanac, Moore, and Partridge, and Moore Improved, and Rider, are not only absurd in much of their contents, but the most expensive and meagre publications that were ever imposed upon the public credulity. The Englishman's Almanac will give the Stationers' Company moderate profits and much honour. They affirm, in their preface to this work, that “their own older and established publications they modify from time to time, as the diffusion of knowledge and taste may require." They have this year given up an indecent print in Vincent Wing's sheet-and they have abandoned the obscene Poor Robin. Perhaps they will discover that "the diffusion of knowledge and taste" requires still a great deal more to be done-and that the end of all this will be that such Almanacs as the British Almanac of the Society, and its honourable copy, the Englishman's Almanac of the Stationers, will alone keep their ground amongst an intelligent people.

The British Almanac for 1829 is distinguished for a great number of improvements upon that of 1828. It is unexceptionable in all its details; and as correct and complete as can well be imagined. It is in the very nature of the Society from which it emanates, whose Committee is composed of some of the ablest men in the country, and the most sound and practical thinkers, that this Almanac should annually receive every improvement of which such a publication is susceptible. They are not likely to be beaten in such a race; and, therefore, their Almanac will retain, as it deserves, the most extensive circulation amongst the improved productions of this class. But if the Stationers' Company fairly begin a struggle for excellence, whatever might be their original indisposition to improvement, they will be intitled to that praise which belongs to every repentant sinner, who, having seen his errors, applies himself fairly to imitate the examples of good which are set before him. The best atonement they could make for the delusions which they have been instrumental in propagating for two centuries, would be at once to abandon them; and to say, that having been beaten by public intelligence, they repose upon that intelligence for their future support in their new and more honourable career. It were better to do this than continue to outrage the common sense and good feeling of the nation; and thereby run the risk of incurring, in the person of their worthy Treasurer, or of their worshipful Master, those penalties of the statute law, which indubitably attach to those who use any subtle craft, means, or device, by palmistry, or otherwise, to deceive and impose on any of his Majesty's subjects." We have examined, somewhat accurately, into this point, and we have consulted several distinguished lawyers upon the subject. The result, which may save the Stationers' Company a guinea opinion, is this that for the publication and sale of false prophecies, whereby people are enticed to spend their money upon "subtle craft," and are deceived and imposed upon, they are distinctly liable to the penalties of the Vagrant Act.

THE MONEY MARKET.

Ar the present period, the plain duty of those who more immediately direct the public mind, is to endeavour to check the backslidings and strengthen the good intentions of the executive, which is given to temporise from a variety of causes. We have selected this

subject, as one of great interest at the present moment, out of which some useful practical remarks may issue; and upon which the government will probably stand in need of support. We shall not allow this article to branch into the variety of topics that its title might fairly lead us into; but confine it within the limits of those more immediately attracting attention-the withdrawal of one pound notes from circulation, and the effect that the scarcity of corn will have upon the money market. Upon the first question (Mr. Peel's Bill, as it is technically called), we have given our opinion in a former number (See London Magazine, August, 1828); but it should be recollected, that however clumsy the attempt may have been to obtain a secure currency, without looking to the advantage that ought always to accompany it—a cheap one, still it was an approach to sound principles; and although the error will, in the mean time, cause an immense sacrifice of wealth, the desideratum may be ultimately gained. We think that neither of the circumstances to which we have alluded will have the effect upon the money market that many persons apprehend; and we will in a later stage of this article give our reasons for entertaining this opinion; but, before we reach that point, a retrospective view of some transactions will be desirable, for the purpose of shewing the difficulties under which the present ministry labours in its financial operations, and the support that it will require in bringing them to bear; for in the management of them will a great deal of that distrust be removed that is at present apparent among capitalists. It must be borne in mind, that the difficulties in the details of the various financial operations that the ministers have to contend against have been produced by a long series of mismanagement for which the present cabinet, in its collective capacity, cannot be called to an account; and as far as its finance measures have gone we are inclined to be favourable towards it; for it has had the honesty and policy to give the death-blow to that piece of quackery, a sinking fund without a surplus revenue; and it has, we believe, followed the rule that Mr. Canning laid down for himself in not borrowing money of the Bank on Exchequer bills; or, at least, if it has been done, it is to a trifling extent; and we are not speaking loosely when we say, that it is the present intention to abandon that system as much as possible and offer them to the public in the first instance. On the other hand it may be said, that the government has very much disregarded the recommendations of the Finance Committee; but its conduct in that respect is so closely mixed up with political causes as to take it out of this enquiry, the object of which is to shew the bearings of present circumstances upon the great source of industry-the money market. The panic of 1825, in producing an outcry against Country Banker DECEMBER, 1828.

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tended to extend the monopoly of the Bank of England, and, in the clamour against them, all the mischief, or at least the greater part of it, was attributed to their over-issue of paper; whilst the over-issue of Bank of England notes in consequence of the transactions between the finance ministers and that corporation were wholly overlooked: “Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes ?" The very parties who had assisted in creating an excess of circulating medium were the foremost to rail against the conduct of Provincial Bankers. Under the present system of banking, the security between Bank of England and local notes is widely different undoubtedly, but an excess of either has the common result of inducing undue speculation; and the Government and the Bank have had their full share of responsibility in that respect. The difference between bank notes brought into circulation by legitimate means (if we may use the term), as the representatives of property gained by transactions emanating from labour, and those that have issued to meet some emergency of the minister, has never been sufficiently estimated. The loans from the Bank to the Government produced this description of notes, and tended to elevate the funds to an unnatural point. A certain quantity of Exchequer Bills were deposited with the Bank for the same amount of notes which were thrown upon the market, (the Bank always taking care to be paid well in the way of interest, commission, &c.) not representing bills that had been gained by the industry of the merchant or manufacturer, not representing stock, but the bills of the government that have of late years been issued, without reference to any other consideration than the expediency of the hour. Another method of throwing bank notes of this kind upon the market has been the reduction of the rate of interest of certain stocks. The Chancellor of the Exchequer of that day was obliged to give the stockholders the option of taking a reduced rate of interest or of being paid off; and many more, we suspect, than he calculated upon chose the latter offer; and the consequence was that many millions of bank notes were thrown upon the money market without any defined object. The excess of circulation caused by these means paved the way for foreign loans, mining companies, and other speculations that did so much to produce the panic three years ago.

The money raised through the medium of the bank to pay off the dissentients in the navy 5 per cents. and the old 4 per cents. was almost, from inevitable circumstances, largely employed in speculation. As a general principle, it may be remarked that all loans from the bank to the government beyond their public balances (that is, the amount on their books belonging to their customers in their capacity as bankers, which is supposed to average about five millions) are unsafe for public credit. The bank notes representing that amount being derived from a solid source can be fairly brought into circulation; but when the minister goes to the directors for loans beyoud that sum, they flood the market with notes, not immediately required for the objects of commerce, and which, consequently, are forced into speculative pursuits. The unfunded debt system has hitherto sent the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the place where bank notes could be manufactured without limit, and, therefore, the negotiations emanating

from it contained no elements by which the country could be guarded against an influx of paper; and, being commenced in a panic, they concluded, as similar ones almost without exception do, by the borrowing party having the worst of the bargain. With regard to the paying off of stocks, the only sound method is by a surplus revenue. Every other is mere quackery; and it has been resorted to for no better purpose than in a period of clamour to relieve some temporary pressure. This was the case at the time when the navy 5 per cents. and 4 per cents. were paid off. A very natural discontent at unreduced expenditure was afloat, and a reduction of interest was proposed as a sort of peace-offering to the nation; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer had no more the means of paying off the dissentients in this stock than he had of paying off the national debt; and as many of these individuals did not consider it any great boon to have their interest reduced, he was obliged to ask the bank for a loan. It may be said that the reduction of interest is of advantage; but a reduction by an issue of bank notes in consequence of a deposit of exchequer bills is a considerable drawback as to this advantage; and when the other inconveniences are taken into the calculation, the benefit is quickly turned against the country. It may also be urged that the redemption of a stock by a surplus revenue would cause a flood of bank notes, and bring them into the hands of parties not requiring them-the dissentients of a stock about to be reduced. The idea we intend to convey by surplus revenue is, bank notes actually paid for; in existence by reason of some transaction that isues from the legitimate source of wealth-labour. In this case, there is no superabundance of bank notes; the funds are not unnaturally elevated; the channels for the employment of capital are not choked up.

It is well to remind the public of these past transactions when a struggle is not unlikely to occur between the government and the bank; for we speak on no light authority when we say that we believe the Chancellor of the Exchequer is desirous of being independent in his financial operations; and the directors, as their charter draws towards a close, will be every day more anxious to get him into their trammels. Many circumstances may occur to try the minister's firmness, and should they arrive, we hope that he will throw himself upon the monied interest of the country, and we will assure him that he cannot take a more popular course. His colleague, Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, has set him a good example in a recent instance, in dealing with the monopolists that he comes more immediately in contact with. Mr. Wallis, who has appeared before the public as one of the Spital Fields' deputation that waited upon the Board of Trade with complaints at the interference with their precious monopoly, does not seem exactly to understand Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald's answer; but we will tell him what the right honourable gentleman has said to the shipowners, a class of complainants of the same cast, (and that will probably enlighten Mr. Wallis's mind as to the answer to his own requests,) that he is prepared to defend the treaties upon which the alteration in the navigation laws was founded. Mr. Goulburn will not probably be so broadly assailed by his exclusive party, but it will nevertheless require as much firmness in repelling its attacks. At this moment it may