Much is also to be done in opposing bad laws, and there the circumstance of being a lawyer is of great importance. I consider a new ministry as now out of the question.

Ever yours truly,

J. A. MURRAY.

LETTER CLI. TO SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY.

My dear Sir,

Lincoln's Inn, 10th February, 1810.

It appears to me to be very important that you should publish your speech of last night, if you can possibly find leisure for it while it is still fresh in your mind.* The irresistible argument for your particular bills, which is founded upon the returns, will not be seen in all its force, unless the numbers are all set down; and then I am quite persuaded, that, upon the subject of a reform of the criminal law, the public is quite ready for instruction, if delivered to them with the authority of your name, and with the attractions which your topics of reasoning and illustration cast over the argument. It is because you cannot know this so well as others, that I take the liberty of suggesting to you to make this exertion, always an irksome one, but which will be greatly and immediately useful. It will tend very much. to make your future progress, in the same subject, more

*"Feb. 9th. — I moved for, and obtained leave, to bring into the House of Commons three bills to repeal the acts of 10 & 11 Will. III. c. 23., 12 Anne, st. 1. c. 7., and 24 Geo. II., which punish with death the crimes of stealing privately in a shop goods of the value of five shillings, and of stealing to the amount of forty shillings in dwelling-houses, or on board vessels in navigable rivers. The Solicitor-General, with his usual panegyrics on the wisdom of past ages, and declamations on the danger of interfering with what is already established, announced his intention of opposing the bills after they should be brought in."

"March 12th.-I published the substance of my speech of the 9th of February, in the form of a pamphlet."

Memoirs of Sir Samuel Romilly, (1st edit.) vol. ii. p. 303.

easy. Nothing seems to me so certain now, as that parliament in all these matters of legislative improvement follows only the public opinion; and that to overcome in the House of Commons the resistance of which Plomer is so worthy a leader, you must bring the weight of public opinion to bear upon the House, by enlightening it through the press. On the subject of the criminal law, the prejudices are all among the lawyers; the public in general seem to have none, and at the same time take a lively interest always in such discussions.

The unsatisfactory returns which are made to the orders which I moved for in the House of Commons upon the subject of Bullion and Currency, and the ready desire which was expressed on both sides of the House to see that subject fully examined, induce me to propose in a few days the appointment of a select committee. But before going so far in a matter of such public importance, I feel an anxious wish to have the sanction and benefit of your Lordship's advice as to the proper objects, as well as the best course of investigation; in order that it may be conducted to an useful result. Hitherto, I have abstained from forming any conclusion, even in my own mind, respecting the causes of the present state of money prices; nor am I sure that I have yet gained a clear and exact notion of that change, whether depreciation or not, of which the cause remains to be ascertained. In this suspense of opinion, I have

been desirous, before I enter into the inquiry, to collect the various solutions which the difficulty may seem to admit of at present, while our information is incomplete, in order that the search for farther information may be so directed as to bring each of those explanations to the test. I fear that I ask too much of your Lordship, whose time is so filled up, in requesting that you would have the goodness to instruct me in the views, which your Lordship entertains upon this important question; but I am prompted to make that request, by my anxiety to get into the right track through so intricate a subject, and by my conviction that injury of no slight degree may be done to the public interest by taking a false step, and even by the publication of erroneous opinions.

I have the honour to be, my Lord,

Your Lordship's faithful, obedient servant,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CLIII. FROM LORD GRENVILLE.

Dear Sir,

Camelford House, 12th February, 1810.

I saw with the most lively satisfaction that you had announced an intention of taking up a subject of so much difficulty and importance as that of the present state of the currency of the kingdom, and of the trade in bullion. It would give me great pleasure to have an opportunity of conversing with you on the subject at whatever time would best suit your own convenience. I am generally at home from twelve to two, but I could with equal convenience fix any other hour that might suit you better, and be less liable to interruption.

The difficulty of arriving at any precise opinion as to the causes of the existing evil arises in great degree from the concurrent operation of so many circumstances

wholly unprecedented. Nothing but a well conducted inquiry ascertaining as distinctly as may be the real effect (as it is now practically experienced) of each of these circumstances, separately or combined with the others, can give one full satisfaction as to the application of those theories, which one's general notions of the subject would lead one to form upon it. But on a general view, I am inclined to attribute the effect complained of, in a very great degree, to the stoppage of money payments at the Bank-a measure originally adopted to meet a sudden and very urgent pressure, but, I think, very ill calculated for any long continuance. While the necessity of money payments then continued, every increased demand for bullion, which either the ordinary fluctuations of trade, or the extraordinary cir cumstances of these times, occasioned, was immediately felt there, and was met (or ought to have been so) by adequate measures to diminish the circulation of paper, and by a corresponding issue and importation of bullion, by a body possessed at all times of a considerable store of that article, and having both capital and commercial means for rapid purchases and importations.

I am far from thinking that the question admits of so simple a solution as to be answered merely by a reference to this single principle-but I am inclined to believe that its operation will more or less be traced through all the complicated details in which the subject is involved; and I entertain sanguine hopes that, under your conduct, the inquiry will lead to an issue satisfactory both in the elucidation of this branch of politi cal science, and in the practical measures to which it may lead.

Believe me ever, my dear Sir,

Most truly and faithfully yours,

GRENVILLE.

Note by Mr. Horner, dated the 3d of April, 1810. "In the late vote on the Walcheren question †, there were many members, I doubt not, who voted with ministers, though they condemned the whole of their conduct in that fatal expedition, from a sincere conviction of the superior fitness and excellence of the present set of ministers, for holding the government, in the present circumstances, above any other set of public men.

"The vote of such men may have been given, in consequence of their perceiving, that if the House condemned that expedition by a vote of the majority, the King would be compelled to change his ministers. I have no doubt that a sufficient number of men were influenced by this manner of considering the thing, to give the ministers the majority they had, when added to their crowd of corrupt, devoted, or unthinking partisans. Perhaps, this is far from being the only instance that might be mentioned, in which well-meaning and disinterested members of parliament have been deterred from voting in condemnation of a particular measure of government, lest the effect of that vote should go farther than they wished, and lead to an entire change in the administration.

"In this manner, it would appear, that the weight and importance which belongs to a vote of the House, upon

* After he had ceased to keep a journal, Mr. Horner appears to have been in the habit of making notes on separate slips of paper, to which he affixed a date, usually under some general title, such as, "Political Anecdotes," "Political Philosophy," "Temper of the public Mind," &c. - ED.

† On the 30th of March, Lord Porchester moved a series of resolutions condemning the conduct of ministers in the late expedition to the Scheldt. The last of the resolutions concluded with these words: "And that the advisers of this ill-judged enterprise are, in the opinion of this House, deeply responsible for the heavy calamities with which its failure has been attended.” * On the division, 275 voted for ministers, and 227 for the resolutions; giving ministers a majority of 48.- ED.