XLI. 1844. assembly of the Ministry and Court. The few whom the CHAP. magnificence of the spectacle permitted to reflect, recollected that this Order had been instituted by Edward III. after the battle of Cressy, and that its first Companions were the Black Prince and the other Paladins whose prowess proved so fatal to France at Poitiers and other fields of fame. How were times now changed! In answer to an address from the incorporation of Windsor, the French King observed: "The union of France is of great importance to both nations, but not from any wish of aggrandisement on the part of either. Our view should be peace, while we leave every other country in possession of those blessings which it has pleased Divine Providence to bestow upon them. France has nothing to ask of England, and England has nothing to ask of France, but cordial union." The 12th was the day fixed for his majesty's departure, but a violent storm prevented his crossing the Channel on that day, so that he was obliged to change his route, and proceed to Dover. the route thither, a fresh disaster occurred, for when the train bearing the royal party reached the New Cross station, it was wrapped in flames, and the glare of the conflagration was reflected from the helmets of the escort. Those inclined to superstition drew sinister auguries from Ann. Reg. these incidents, so quickly succeeding the recent scenes 117, Chron. of festivity and magnificence.1 On 1 1844, 112, June 1. If this visit was characteristic of the important and 119. auspicious change which had taken place of late years Visit of the Emperor in the relations of France and England, an event which Nicholas. occurred earlier in the year, though considered at the time as one connected only with amusement, was the harbinger of tragic and important events in the east of Europe. On the 1st June, the Emperor of Russia arrived in London, having been preceded by a few hours by the King of Saxony. He was received with her wonted courtesy and magnificence by the Queen, who gave him CHAP. XLI. 1844. a splendid series of entertainments in Windsor Palace. One of his majesty's first acts was to purchase £5000 worth of jewellery in London, which he distributed among the ladies of his acquaintance, whose smiles were liberally bestowed in return for such imperial courtesy ; and the favour of the sporting world was not less won by a gift of a cup of uncommon splendour, to be annually run for at Ascot races. Every one who approached him was struck with the manly dignity of his figure, his noble Doubleday, and serene countenance, and the polished courtesy of his i. 381. manners, which threw a lustre even over the stately halls of Windsor.1 1 Ann. Reg. Life of Peel, 120. objects of the visit. Unmarked amidst the blaze of magnificence which Political accompanied this imperial pageant, political objects of the highest importance were involved in the Emperor's visit. It was not for the purposes merely of popularity or amusement that the Czar left the shores of the Neva to approach those of the Thames. The object was to prepare the British Government, in secret and confidential conferences, for the designs of Russia upon the Turkish empire. It was intended to unfold the pitiable state of weakness to which the Turkish empire was reduced, and the absolute necessity of the principal powers of Europe concurring in the measures to be adopted in the event which might ere long occur of its entire dissolution. What the tenor of these conferences was is not yet fully known; but they may be inferred from what has since been published in regard to the proposals of the Czar to Sir H. Seymour, the English ambassador at St Petersburg. These were the cession of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Bulgaria to Russia; of Servia, Bosnia, and the coast of the Adriatic to Austria; of Egypt and Cyprus to England; and the establishment of a power, under the protection of Russia, in Roumelia and Constantinople. Count Nesselrode's memorandum, published since the Crimean war began, leaves no doubt on this XLI. 1844. point. What answer the British Government returned CHAP. to these tempting proposals is not known; but the event has proved that it was not such as to disturb the diplo-1 Count matic relations of the two countries, or prevent the NesselCabinet of St Petersburg, when it deemed the proper morandum; moment arrived, from proceeding of its own authority ii. 386. to carry them into execution.1 rode's Me Doubleday, CHAP. 1844. CHAPTER XLII. ENGLAND, FROM THE PASSING OF THE BANK CHARTER ACT IN 1844, TO THE FALL OF SIR R. PEEL'S MINISTRY IN JUNE 1846. SIR R. PEEL frequently referred to the Bank Charter Act of 1844, and the adoption of Free Trade, as the main causes of the flood of prosperity which overspread the 1. country during the two succeeding years; and there can Public pros- be no doubt that he was so far right, that the immense the railway increase in railway and other speculations which then perity and mania. took place is in a great degree to be ascribed to the facilities for carrying them on which that Act afforded. The Bank, now laid in chains by Government, had but one thing to do, and that was, to attend closely to the state of the exchanges and the stock of bullion in its coffers, to expand its issues when the former were favourable, the latter large; to contract them when the reverse took place. Circumstances, immediately after the passing of the Act, were eminently favourable to the retention of bullion. The supplies from South America, in consequence of the cessation of the desolating war of independence, had become much more abundant, and the drain, from the fineness of the harvests, had become very inconsiderable. The produce of gold in Russia had now become so considerable* as to exercise a sensible influence on -Parl. Papers, Dec. 3, 1847; TOOKE's History of Prices, v. 537. XLII. 1844. the money market. The import of wheat in the years CHAP. 1843, 1844, and 1845, was very small; in the latter of these years, it was only 313,000 quarters.* The consequence was, that the Bank coffers were overflowing, and Sir R. Peel boasted, in the pride of his heart, as already mentioned in noticing the Scotch Banking Act in 1845, that it had bullion to the amount of £15,842,000. The necessary effect of this state of things, according to the existing law, was a very great issue of bank-notes by that establishment, which was obliged to give them for all the gold brought to its doors, and of course a corresponding increase in the issue of all other banks, which are all entirely regulated by the proceedings of the Bank of England. During the last half of 1844 and the next two years, the average bullion in the Bank was from £15,000,000 to £16,000,000, and the paper in circulation from £21,000,000 to £23,300,000. The entire circulation of the empire during these years was from £40,000,000 to £42,000,000, while the gold and silver was about £30,000,000. True to the principle of the 1 Tooke, v. Bank Charter Act, the Bank Directors no sooner per- Ann. Reg. ceived this favourable state of things than they lowered 1845, 1, 3; the rate of their discount from 4 to 21 per cent; and it did not exceed 3 per cent till the beginning of 1847, when the monetary crisis was commencing which termi 563, 565; Mart. ii. 627, 629; Doubleday, ii. 387, 388. -PORTER'S Progress of the Nation, p. 140, 3d edit. + RATES OF DISCOUNT CHARGED AT THE BANK, AND BULLION |