insist on justice in this most important matter. The following interesting anecdote serves as an illustration of this: When Admiral Lord Nelson uttered that memorable saying on the ever-to-be-remembered day of the battle of Trafalgar,-October 5, 1805,England expects that every man will do his duty," one Scotchman remarked to another, "D'ye hear that, Saunders? no a word aboot puir auld Scotland!" "Haud your noise, Willie, his Lordship kens Scotland does her duty."

66

aye

XXI.

MILITARY BARRACKS.

MILLIONS have been expended for the purchase of barracks in Englamd of late years; while in Glasgow all that has been done has been to sell the cavalry barrack, and to build no other in its place. They have laid out nothing on Scotland for its military defence-nothing on its military establishments at all; on the contrary, they have gulled us, and compelled us to sell the Glasgow cavalry barrack, got hold of the money, and have built no other in its place. So here we have the greatest commercial city in Scotland without this protection, without any cavalry barrack. Suppose a similar riot should take place as the one some years ago, when many thousands worth of property were consumed in one hour, the magistrates would require to send to Hamilton for cavalry, a distance of eleven miles, and thus two hours would expire, the property destroyed, and the riot over before the cavalry could possibly arrive.

XXII.

ORDNANCE SURVEY.

THE history of the Ordnance Survey is one of gross injustice and neglect towards Scotland, and of partiality towards England and Ireland. The Ordnance Survey of England commenced in 1791, and was completed at the expense of £750,000. The survey of Ireland was begun in 1824, and the map engraved and published at an expense of £880,000. The survey of Scotland was commenced in 1809, but was almost immediately suspended, in order that the per

The Par

sons then engaged in it might be employed in carrying forward the subordinate triangulation required for the detail maps of England. The survey of Scotland was not proceeded with until 1814, when the triangulation was resumed and continued until 1823, when it was again interrupted, the instruments employed upon it being required to complete the survey of England. It was then again abandoned for fifteen years. In 1838 it was resumed, and has struggled on until now. The sum expended on the Scottish survey during the last forty-four years, averages about £2,500 per annum. liamentary Report, published in 1852, states that "Scotland, as regards its geography, is behind all the countries of civilized Europe." The Map of Ireland was engraved in Dublin, giving Ireland the benefit of the whole £880,000. The Map of England was engraved in Southampton, giving her the benefit of the whole £750,000. The Map of Scotland is about to be engraved in England. This is an insult to Scotland, particularly when we have so many celebrated engravers in Edinburgh and Glasgow, such as Sir William Johnston, W. H. Lizars, W. Banks, Maclure and Macdonald, &c., whose works of art cannot be surpassed in Europe.

XXIII.

THE SCOTTISH BANKING SYSTEM.

THE general opinion of the mercantile and banking establishments in Scotland, relative to the injustice of the banking act of 1845, restricting the banks of issue in Scotland:-That measure was most unquestionably carried through, if not withont due intimation to the people of Scotland, at least in opposition to the desires and convictions of every one who had considered its probable effects upon the commerce and general interests of Scotland. The experience of the last eight years has amply confirmed the view taken of the act 1845, and of the former attempt to do away in toto with the one pound notes altogether. An author on Banking in 1826 has the following statement in his introduction relative to the stupidity of government when this matter was discussed in the House of Commons:

"It cannot be denied, that in the course of the parliamentary investigation of this subject, which took place in 1826, the knowledge

displayed by most of the speakers was vague, imperfect, and superficial in the extreme. In particular, it was observable that few Scotch members seemed to be in the least acquainted with the characteristics of English banking; and, on the other hand, though it was universally allowed that the Scotch scheme of banking has been eminently successful, and to have answered every beneficial purpose which could have been contemplated by the most patriotic of those with whom it originated, the king's ministers and both houses of parliament were prepared, in their ignorance of its details (without which they could have had no proper knowledge of its merits or excellencies), to give it a deathblow, which would have been fatal to the country's prosperity. Both ministers and the two houses of parliament were, before the end of the session, so overpowered by the evidence brought forward by the Scotch bankers, as all at once to abandon their prepossessions an act of rare virtue,, no doubt, but one which puts in a more conspicuous point of view their previous unacquaintance with the subject. It is believed that the government now regrets even the measure which was adopted that session with regard to the English banks, namely, the suppression of the small note currency. And certainly it seems odd that at the very time the legislature rescinded the law which prohibited the formation of banking companies in England having more than six partners, an acknowledgment that the principle of unlimited partnership which prevailed in Scotland was a sound one, it should have made an attempt both to extinguish in Scotch banks their great principle of vitality by depriving them of a particular privilege, and to deny the English banks that same privilege, the abuses of which had solely their origin in the law which was repealed. It is unnecessary for the author here to prove that the maxims by which the legislature was guided on the occasion were uncertain and fallacious. It is sufficient to prove that it made a leap in the dark; and though it had a glimmering of detached facts, it had no sure, well-ascertained principles by which to determine its course of conduct." *

Again, adverting to the law of 1845, we believe that it is an undoubted fact that it has cost the banking and mercantile community of the United Kingdom and Ireland not less than £80,000 per annum for the last eight years, making in all £640,000-thus greatly curtailing the just credit and necessary circulation of this country.

Mitchell on Bills and Banking, Writer to the Signet's Library, Edinburgh.

29

Besides, this stupid government measure has not given additional security to the public for the issues of our banks, neither has it prevented mercantile speculation, nor has it in any respect tended to counteract that feeling of panic which has since attacked even the best secured establishments. In fact, the only tendency of the act of 1845 has been to lock up from general use in Scotland nearly three hundred thousand sovereigns, besides nearly double the amount in England thus adding, at the present critical moment when war is about to commence, to the scarcity of money both in Scotland and England.

Let us now, therefore, when a movement has commenced relative to Justice to Scotland, make a strenuous effort to obtain the repeal of a law so universally condemned as unsound, and one which has proved so injurious to the circulation and credit of this country. The proposal here promulgated should be in the following terms:

"To bring the existing laws respecting banks of issue immediately before the House, with the view of repealing the restriction clauses of the act of 1844 (8 & 9 Vic. c. 32), on the banks of issue of England, and of repealing the act of 1845 (8 & 9 Vic. c. 37 and 38), which restrict the banks of issue of Scotland and Ireland, and of placing the banks of issue of the United Kingdom on the principle of free trade, taking adequate securities for the issues by causing a third of the amount of gold now held by the banks to be invested in exchequer bills, yielding interest to the said banking establishments, while government will have the use of the money for prosecuting the war with vigour."

Let public opinion be now effectively expressed and conveyed, so that parliament may be assured how injurious to Scotland this bill is-let, therefore, the counties and burghs of Scotland make their sentiments known-let commercial and banking establishments also come forward for a similar purpose-let public meetings be held in our large towns, and resolutions passed in accordance with these to be submitted to parliament; for parliament now yields to nothing but a national demonstration, or to agitation in its most formidable shape. This process, however repulsive, is unquestionably a necessary one. There is no time for delay. If this obnoxious act is to be repealed, it must be done instantly.

XXIV,

UNION RIOTS IN 1706.

WHILE the Treaty was keenly debated in parliament, riots daily took place in the city; the king's commissioner was daily insulted by an outrageous mob with curses and imprecations, his guards pelted, and stones thrown into his coach which always drove at full speed. The provost's house was besieged, and he would have been torn in pieces had not the interposition of the town guard enabled him to escape by flight. For a time the mob was predominant in the city, and the court party in parliament was exposed to imminent danger. A strong military force was brought in, which kept the populace in On the 15th January 1707, the Scottish Parliament was dissolved. Having met at Edinburgh, and finally adjusted the Articles .of Union, it was, by the Duke of Queensberry, the king's commissioner, for ever dissolved. Scotland has since been entirely under the dominion and sway of John Bull.

awe.

We do not urge the repeal of the Union; but we demand that the negotiations embodied in the various Articles of said Treaty be now honourably fulfilled by England, and that the rights and privileges we have already been deprived of be immediately restored.

Edinburgh Printed by MURRAY & STUART, 28 South Hanover Street.