THE NEW BANK-OF-ENGLAND NOTE.

sion, as this short memorandum will suffice at the bank to obtain every particular connected with it.

Ar the ordinary meeting of the Society of Arts, held on Wednesday evening, a paper was read by Mr. Alfred Smee, F. R. S., Upon the Bank-ofEngland Note, and the Substitution of SurfacePrinting from Electrotype, for the ordinary Plate Printing." Mr. Smee stated that the authorities of the Bank had determined to modify and improve the bank Note; and that, under the direc-ernor of the bank, exhibited to the Society. tion of the late governor, Mr. Hankey, a new form of Bank-of-England note had been designed. In the new Note, great improvements have been made in the paper on which the Note is printed; and, by the employment of Smith & Brewer's patent, the water-mark has been carried to greater perfection than heretofore. For the first time the letters and figures of the denomination are shaded, which produces considerable artistic effect, and greatly increases the difficulty of forgery. Many curious details were afforded of the extreme care taken to protect the public by preventing a single sheet of paper from being possibly abstracted, from the formation of the pulp at the Bank-paper mills, by Mr. Portal, to the final destruction of the Notes.

The paper was illustrated throughout by the means by which Mr. Smee's system has been carried out, as well as by specimens of the dif ferent parts of the processes required, and specimens of various denominations of bank notes were, by the kindness of Mr. Hubbard, the Gov

A new Britannia has been devised by Mr. M'Clise, and engraved by Robinson, to be used in the place of the former vignette; and the writing on the new Note is rendered: "I promise to pay to bearer on demand," instead of: “I promise to pay to Matthew Marshall or bearer," as heretofore.

After the reading of the paper by Mr. Smee, the Secretary stated that he had received from Mr. W. Stones some "Observations on the means available for securing bank notes, cheques, and similar important documents against counterfeit and alteration." This gentleman considered that protection was to be sought in the accumu lation of checks to forgery, rather than in the superiority of any one particular form of secu rity.

He reviewed some of the means more or less available for obtaining the desired security, treating of them under the following heads: peculiarities in the pulp or manufacture of the paper; chemical preparations introduced at the time of manufacture or subsequently; water marks or devices introduced for the purpose of distinguishing any given paper from all others; the style and subject of the engravings; and the inks in the printing.

NEW BOOKS.

In a communication to the Secretary from Councillor Auer, director of the imperial printing office at Vienna, it is stated that they enMr. Smee stated that he had proposed to the deavor to prevent the possibility of the forgery Bank a system whereby surface-printing from of bank notes by adopting a combination of electrotype should be substituted for the plate-processes, including the nature printing process, printing; and that with Mr. Hensman and Mr.Coe each opposed to the other in its manner of printthey had succeeded in bringing typography into ing.-Literary Gazette. successful operation for all the numerous forms of Notes and Cheques required. For this purpose the Britannia had been cut in steel by Mr. Thompson, and the letters had been produced in the best possible state of excellence by Mr. Skirving. The originals are never employed for printing, but are simply used as mould-inakers, from which electrocasts are taken, by the use of the ordinary Smee's battery and precipitating trough. The electrometallurgic processes, as used in the Bank, were minutely described, together with several new points in connection therewith. The Bank-ridge. With a Memoir. 3 vols. Notes, by this system, are printed at a steampress, constructed by Napier, and no less than 3,000 Notes are printed per hour.

The author called attention to the theory of the inimitability. He stated that the system pursued by the bank was so perfect that no forged note had ever escaped eventual detection. By the new system, the most perfect identity would be insured, and thus traders had only to pay attention to the quality of the paper, and the character of design to protect themselves. The author stated that great importance was attached to identity, but further he considered, that the doctrine of inimitability should be classed with the fanciful dreams of the philosopher's stone, and elixir of life of a by-gone age.

The public were particularly recommended in variably to take down the letter and number of every note which came into their posses

We have received the following new books from the publishers:—

with a Memoir by Robert Southey.
Hora Lyrica and Divine Songs. By Isaac Watts

The Poetical Works of John Keats. With a Life.
The Poetical and Dramatic Works of S. T. Cole-

[Messrs. Little, Brown, & Co. have just issued,
as parts of their Complete Collection of the Brit-
ish Poets, the five volumes above enumerated.
Of the outward shape of this Collection - by
which we mean the size of the Volumes, the
quality of the Paper, the size of the Type, the
beauty of the Press-work, and the suitable neat-
ness of the Binding-
-we have fully expressed
our earnest praise on the appearance, from time
to time, of the former Volumes. There is no rea-
son to doubt that the Editor has well performed
his part, and that the Collection will be one of the
most creditable that has ever issued from the
American Press. It suffers no disadvantage on
comparison with the best English Editions. We
should be happy to qualify ourself, by a careful
reading of every page, for a judgment from
knowledge of our own. But our readers keep us
too busy with the works of the day."]

"And now, when all is dark around,

And the wind, and the driving rain,
And the whirling leaves, are the only sound,
And each is a sound of pain;
We bid you remember that, once again.
The summer will brighten o'er hill and

"And we speak to thee, oh, weary heart,

cial takes all passports, and in half-an-hour returns them by calling names over. Waited some time, at last heard, "Monsieur Steekd well done! thou unshaved Gaul-better pronounced than usual-" Voici, c'est à moi," I said plain.—and mine it was sure enough. Moral.-Dropping the consonants in a language signifies want of energy, and imbecility in the national characWordsworth being quoted, the author prefixes the epithet "prosy," and justifies the irreverence thus: The reason I call Wordsworth prozy is this-he is prosy. And the reason he is this-he is not human enough. If I were a tree, I should love Wordsworth; if I were a mountain,

That strugglest with sorrow or care,
And we bid thee, however depressed thou art,
Yield not thyself to despair;

But remember, though dark the night may be,
The morning will come as certainly.

ter.

"And we summon you all from a world of I should adore him; if I were a daisy or a butgloom,

As we did from a world of light, To realms of never-fading bloom,

Whose day shall know no night;

Where the troubles of life shall no more assail,
And joys shall be yours that shall never fail.”

Thus spake the bells on that winter's night,
As I sat by my bogwood fire,
And basked in the ruddy, cheerful light,

As the flames leaped higher and higher.

And is not the voice of those bells, in sooth,
An emblem meet of the Word of Truth?
Alike, when the summer's sun pours down
His flood of golden light;

Alike, when winter's angry frown

Contracts the brow of night;

tercup, I should worship him ; but as I am a man, I want to read (if I read at all) about men, and what they do, and say, and think, and feel-so I'll read Shakspeare, please, if I read anything."

At a meeting of the Edinburgh Bible Society the Earl of Panmure paid a merited tribute to the memory of the late Lord Rutherford, one of the Scottish judges, and formerly Lord Advocate for Scotland. He said it was chiefly through Lord Rutherford's exertion that the old Bible monopoly in the northern part of the island had been abolished, and that provision was made for freedom of printing, alone with security for the text, through the supervision of a Board of Commissioners. Lord Rutherford, who died last week

Whether pleasur brighten the cheek with a at the age of sixty-three, was a man of high litesmile,

Or grief dim the eye with a tear,
Its solemn voice is heard the while,
Pealing for ever near;

Telling the happy this is not their rest-
Speaking of peace to the sorrow-depressed;
Warning us all that time passes away,
With the passing chimes of each Sabbath day.
M. F. G.

rary taste, but was not known to the public as an author. When Lord Advocate he possessed much influence in the Houseof Commons, through his business talents and his ready speaking.

The Geographical Society of Paris held its annual sitting a few days ago. It was announced that the government is prepared to support and reward travellers who may be willing to exTravel Thoughts and Travel Fancies. By Henry plore the parts of Africa between Senegal and Strickland. John W. Parker and Son. Timbuctoo; from Lake Tchad to the mouth of MR. STRICKLAND's book consists of extracts the Tehadda by way of Yola and Yacoba; from from familiar despatches to friends at home dur-lake Tchad to Belenia in four degrees north ing an ordinary continental tour. In description or narrative there is nothing new, but the offhand style, and occasional reflections and observations such as those which we subjoin, give some character to the volume, and render it readable, in spite of the triteness of the subject, and the nonsense of the bulk of the author's thoughts and fancies:

Wednesday, June 2.-Returned to Brussels. Name, Strickland, puzzles passport officialsfact is, it is a thorough Tentonic, angular, rough sharp-cornered word full of difficulty, but which a Teuton has energy to tackle-not so to a Celt. So what does he do, when he encounters such a word? Why he rounds off the corners, shaves off the knobs, smooths all unevennesses, and then -and not till then-ventures to put it in his mouth. Crossing boundary between France and Belgium, a besworded, bebuttoned, bebelted ofli

latitude; and from Mombas in the coast to Belenia, by Mount Kenia. A detailed report on the operations of the Society during the preceding year was read. An account was given of a voyage on the White Nile, by M. Brun-Rollet, to as low down as three degrees north latitude, which is considerably farther than any traveller has yet gone. On his way he fell in with some very singular tribes. A paper on the discovery of the remains of Sir John Franklin's expedition was to have been read, but want of time caused it to be postponed.

From the National Intelligencer.

LORD MAHON ON THE DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE.

Congress whose commission he bore. The latter he speaks of as "the dregs of a Congress," most of them elected by a little low faction," "their dignity and consequence WE appropriate a considerable portion of gone." As to the army, he asks, "have they our paper to a subject which no intelligent not frequently abandoned even yourself in reader will pass by with indifference. We the hour of extremity?" And of the officers refer to the elaborate reply of our learned he says "many have been taken from the fellow-townsman, PETER FORCE, Esq., to lowest of the people, without principle and Lord MAHON's history of our Declaration of Independence, and the thorough exposition which it contains of the errors committed by that nobleman in his account of the great event which gave birth to our country.

The English Government, it is said, engaged the services of SCOTT, the novelist, to write the Life of Napoleon. When it was thought that their "own story" of the American War "would bear telling and ought to be told," SOUTHEY, the poet, was applied to to tell it. His other engagements compelled him to decline "the proposal made to him, so much to his honor, by the British Government, to undertake a History of the American War;" but he suggested the work to Lord MAHON as a fine subject, and which, treated as he would treat it, "would vindicate the honor of this country, [England,] at the same time that it would render full justice to the opposite

cause."

without courage." He makes Washington . the leader and the chief, under the dregs of a Congress, of men without principle and an army of cowards. This was Mr. Duché's veneration for Washington.

With every disposition to make the amplest allowance for mistakes arising from a want of correct information, mistakes to which the most careful and the most accurate are sometimes liable; nay, more, to make a liberal allowance for his national prejudices and his over-anxious desire to "vindicate the honor" of his country, yet any pretence Lord Mahon may make of having rendered "full justice to the opposite cause" cannot, it is believed, be sustained as honest on any plea of accident or of ignorance.

A careful examination of these pages, few as they are, may be enough to show with sufficient distinctness in what spirit Lord Mahon's History is written, and how far it may be received as an impartial and truthful record.

It is not proposed to present a review of Lord Mahon's History of the American War, nor in a spirit of cavil or fault-finding to go through his volumes hunting for something to The letter of Mr. SOUTHEY, making this find fault with. On the contrary, the Notes suggestion to Lord MAHON, is dated August are confined to the pages he has appropriated 13, 1832. Twenty-two years later the "story" to his history of the American Declaration of was told by his Lordship. It is not attempted Independence, (pages 92-98, vol. 6, of his here to examine how far his vindication "vin- third edition, revised.) dicates the honor of England," but to show that he has not "rendered full justice to the opposite cause;" and that in any effort he may have made to render such justice he has been signally unsuccessful. To enable the readers of his book to determine for themselves what just ground there may be for this If the reader meets in these Notes with imsuggestion, the following Notes are presented putations of "omissions," "corrections," " adfor the consideration of those who have not ditions," "improvements," "embellishments," at hand the means of testing the trust-"substitutions," "motives," "manufacture," worthiness of his statements, and who, pleased" manufactory," and the like, he must underwith the air of candor which he appears at stand that they are not used here for the first all times to wear, may be induced to give a time. They are from Lord Mahon's vocabcredit to his assertions to which they are not ulary, selected and used by him to express entitled, and be led into his views of the mat- his disapprobation of all " tampering with the ters he presents before they suspect any at- truth of history." tempt to mislead them. To smooth the way for more effectually alluring the American reader to follow him in the path he has mark- Lord Mahon (page 92, vol. 6, 3d edition) ed out for himself, Lord Mahon has affected a says: "Here are the words at the same period great veneration for the character of Gen. of another popular leader: Notwithstanding WASHINGTON. It will be remembered that the Act of Parliament for seizing our prothe Rev. JACOB DUCHE also professed a great perty, there is a strange reluctance in the veneration for the character of Gen. Wash- minds of many to cut the knot which ties us ington in his letter of the 8th of October, to Great Britain."

I.

1777, where, possibly to prove the sincerity Lord Mahon is very emphatic. He declares of his professed veneration, he describes the "here are the words"—that is, the very words, associates of the commander-in-chief and the precisely what was written, and which convey

that he heard this question asked and answered, as follows: What do you mean by independence? We mean a form of Government to make us independent of the rich, and every man able to do as he pleases." (Pages 92-3.)

Notwithstanding the Act of Parliament for seizing our property, and a thousand other proofs Notwithstanding this positive assertion of of a bitter and irreconcilable spirit, there is a strange what the reluctance in the minds of many to cut the knot states," and the honest-looking array of quota"correspondent of Washington that ties us to Great Britain, particularly in this tion marks, and "this question asked and colony and to the southward. Though no man of understanding expects any good from the answered," it must be said that Lord Mahon commissioners, [Lord and Sir William Howe,] has not truly quoted Washington's corresyet they are for waiting to hear their proposals before they declare off.

These are the words of an ardent patriot, giving vent to his honest indignation at the strange reluctance of many to cut the knot, at once, notwithstanding the seizing of their property by act of Parliament, and a thousand other proofs of a bitter and irreconcilable spirit. But their reluctance did not proceed from a defection to the general cause of the colonies. They did not know what the commissioners had to offer. Though no man of understanding expected any good from them, many were waiting to hear their proposals before they declared off.

pondent. Mr. Landon Carter, of Virginia, is the correspondent referred to. In a letter dated May 9, 1776, the passage occurs out of which Lord Mahon has manufactured what he says was stated in that letter. The statement of Mr. Carter is as follows:

I need only tell you of one definition that I heard of independency: It was expected to be a of the rich men, every man then would be able form of Government that, by being independent

to do as he pleased.

tion asked and answered."
Mr. Carter says nothing about the "ques
This, and tho
"what do you mean," and the "we mean,"
bellishments of Lord Mahon to give better
and the "us" are merely the artistic em-
effect to his picture of the "wild misappre-
hensions current," which, to make it at all
within the rule which Lord Mahon says he
available, it was necessary to alter to bring
however trifling it may appear, that can best
adopted—" to neglect no tale or incident,
illustrate the feelings which produced or the
circumstances which attended any great crisis
human affairs."

Lord Mahon, it will be seen, has suppressed the most material part of the sentence he has taken from the letter of Col. Reed-the "thousand other proofs of a bitter and irreconcilable spirit" on the part of England to wards the Colonies. What Col. Reed said of the bitter and irreconcilable spirit" of England may have interfered with Lord Mahon's "vindication;" so he suppressed it. If this were a single instance of what must unques-in tionably be considered an act of bad faith in a historian, the suppression might and ought to be attributed to accident; but it is one of many.

Some of the "thousand other proofs❞ alluded to by Col. Reed were enumerated, a few days later, (on the 23d of the same month,) in the Declaration of Congress in justification of their resolution of the 19th authorizing the fitting out of private armed vessels.

II.

But it was not enough for Lord Mahon that as many as nine of the Colonies were opposed to a separation from England: he considered it due to the truth of history to place on record the wild misapprehensions current among many of those who were in favor of a separation, and their profound ignorance in regard to the independence they were talking about. He goes on to say:

III.

Lord Mahon having thus established the regard to the meaning of "independence," and gross ignorance of many of the Americans in as some slight glimmerings of light were afterwards manifested in their action, he found it necessary to account for "the day-breaking and sun-rising" of their knowledge :—

subject several writers of phamplets now appearTo inform and to animate the people on this ed. The chief among these is Thomas Paine. (P. 93.)

Lord Mahon makes Thomas Paine the chief among the writers of pamphlets in favor of independence; and then, to show by inference what all the writers were, Paine being "the chief," his lordship says of him that "he had "Besides such total difference of views, tried various trades and walks of life, as sailor, there were also, as in most popular changes, excise-man, schoolmaster, and poet, out at wild misapprehensions current. One gen-last he settled down a democratic agitator, tleman, a correspondent of Washington, states | rightly conceiving that to brawl and to scribble