J. G. Frost, Water Street. James Hampson, Great Ancoats Street. William Hervey, New Cannon Street. Alexander Henry, Portland Street. James Kershaw, High Street. James Murray, Ancoats Hall. Of these John Bright, of Rochdale, Alexander Henry, Portland Street, James Kershaw, High Street, and John Benjamin Smith, subsequently became Members of Parliament. George Wilson, Shudehill, became Chairman of the League, and William Rawson, Treasurer. SECTION III-JOHN BOWRING, L.L.D. John Bowring was born in the city of Exeter, on the 17th of October, 1792. Having learned English without knowing precisely how or when, he obtained some small assistance in the classics from the Rev. J. H. Barnsby, a Unitarian minister, at Moreton Hampstead, on the borders of Dartmoor, and got a limited insight into mathematics, from Mr. Rawdon, the master of the Presbyterian charity school in Exeter. He attended the philosophical lectures and examinations of Dr. Lant Carpenter, who was VOL. II remarkable for his facility in giving instruction to the young, and received from him philosophical tendencies of thought which have never ceased to operate. But in the acquisition of the living languages, for which he is one of the most distinguished of living men, Dr. Bowring has been his own tutor, save in French, which he learned from a refugee priest. When a boy his wish was to be a parson, but his friends intended him for a merchant, and at the age of fifteen he was taken into a merchant's office, in Exeter, where he continued for about three years, but still continued the study of languages, and the literature of other nations which that study opened up to him. He learned Italian by talking to the itinerant natives of Italy, who at that time travelled numerously in England, selling and repairing barometers and other instruments; from some of the old merchants of Exeter, who had been travellers, he learned Spanish and German, and got a knowledge, though imperfect, of Portuguese and Dutch. Some of them had good libraries of foreign books, which they lent him, and he made purchases of such treasures for himself when he could af ford to do so. In an old hayloft, remote from interruption, he used to shut himself up with these books, particularly a collection of Italian comedies, with which he became so familiar that he used to think in Italian. At this time he kept a journal of his thoughts, writing it each day in a different language, or varying it according to the books he had been reading. He soon found that the ear is only an auxiliary to the tongue in lingual learning; and hence it was that he sought the companionship of itinerant Italians, or other foreigners, with whom he could converse in their own language. He removed to London at the age of eighteen, and entered a mercantile house as clerk. The Peninsular war was then at its height, and that house being extensively connected with the supplies of the British army in Spain, he, being a linguist, was sent out to that country as the representative of the house. This was in 1813. He had consignments in nearly all the ports of the north of Spain and south of France, and travelled frequently from town to town, as the scene of the war shifted. In 1815, he started in business for himself, and did not quit it finally until 1828. During that period he travelled in the pursuits of commerce through all the continent of Europe, still associating the study of books and languages with mercantile business. And it is not in the same space of too much to say, that few men time had such a varied fortune; at one time adventuring well, and making great gains: again incurring heavy losses; once more wealthy, once more poor; in the possession of a happy home, and again houseless and in prison. In 1822, he was arrested in France, and thrown into prison for several weeks, one fortnight of which was solitary confinement. The charge against him was, that he had visited the liberal politicians in France and elsewhere, had carried sealed letters, and had attempted to aid the escape of a young man who was afterwards guillotined for singing a republican song. The real object of his imprisonment was to extort from him, by inquisitorial examinations, and by terror, something that would enable the Bourbon government to prosecute the liberals of France. He was known to have visited the Duke of Orleans (now king,) and to have the confidence of the leading liberals. He appealed to the English government. Mr. Canning demanded that he should either be released, or indicted and brought to trial. He was not tried, but was released on condition of submitting to be banished from France. When the Bourbons were themselves banished from France in 1830, Dr. Bowring wrote the address of the City of London to the French, congratulating them on the revolution of July. He went with it to Paris, and was received with public honours by the Prefect of the Seine, and the municipality of the French capital. In 1824 he established the Westminster Review, Jeremy Bentham providing the funds. The Whigs had long possessed their Edinburgh Review, the Tories their Blackwood 'and their Quarterly. Radicalism was despised by the higher organs of literature. But now its dignity was vindicated and established. It was allied with science and philosophy, and was respected from the day on which the first number of the Westminster made its appearance. The Review opened also as the prophet and apostle of Free Trade, of commercial emancipation to all nations, as the forerunner of civilization and peace to all races of men. Bowring in its pages then, and Colonel Thompson after him, it is not too much to say that the Westminster Review has done more for the propagation of those principles now triumphant, than any other periodical whatever. The article entitled "Observations on the Restrictive and Prohibitory System of Spain," was by Dr. Bowring, the groundwork, however, being a manuscript by Jeremy Bentham. It is pleasing to remark that of the literary men associated With with the Westminster Review in its early years, all of them have risen to political or social eminence; no mean evidence of the rectitude of their principles. In 1828, a Finance Committee of the House of Commons recommended Dr. Bowring as a fit commissioner for the reform of the public accounts. And so well did his reputation stand as a financier, practically acquainted with every system of public accounts throughout Europe, that though the government was a Tory one, and he was known as a Radical in politics, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Herries, appointed him to that responsible office. But the Duke of Wellington, on ascertaining the fact, peremptorily objected to the appointment, and insisted on the Doctor's name being expunged from the commission, being alarmed at his reputed Radicalism. He was, however, sent to Holland to report on the Dutch system of public book-keeping, with the private intimation, that he might on his return be re-appointed to the commission. But when he returned, the Duke was still inexorable. He was then officially informed, that no opening was likely to be found for him. He had not sought the appointment,-it was offered to him by Mr. Herries he gave up other business to accept it; consequently, this exclusion from the commission caused him much inconvenience, if not absolute loss. In 1830, he was appointed secretary to the commission on public accounts, of which Sir Henry Parnell was chairman. He wrote the reports, four in number, which were presented to Parliament, two of them on the French, and two on the Dutch and Belgian system of public accountancy. In preparing these, he visited Paris, the Hague, and Brussels, and examined the finance departments of their governments. The first report made by the commission, led to a complete change in the Exchequer, and has become the foundation of all the improvements which have been since made. The second report was on the military accounts, which took immediate effect, owing to the fortunate circumstance of Sir Henry Parnell being then PaymasterGeneral. The principle laid down in the report on the Exchequer recommended that all money received from the public should be paid into the Exchequer, and not be disposed of without parliamentary sanction. This part of the report has not yet been carried into effect. Year after year Dr. Bowring continued to insist on this reform; no less than seven millions sterling, it is estimated, are intercepted by the servants of the crown, and disposed of without any account being rendered to the public. In this manner, the different revenue departments are paid. What would we think of the clerks and shopmen, and porters and errand boys of a tradesman in Westminster collecting their master's money, and paying themselves in the first instance, handing over to their employer only so much as they did not think fit to keep? Would it not be monstrous in the case of a private employer? And is it not worse in the case of a nation, whose offices are in Westminster, and whose servants act thus. This distinguished financier has been twice the chairman of Committees of the Commons on the colonial accounts; and in the Session of 1846, had the satisfaction of carrying most of the resolutions proposed to the house on that intricate and important subject, a subject all the more important because it is intricate, and little understood by the general public. In a commercial nation like this it is a discredit to have the public books kept in a manner that affords no check to malversation, or abuses the system recommended from time to time by Dr. Bowring would be a complete check in private, and would give the public a confidence in the government servants which they cannot now feel. In 1831 Dr. Bowring, in conjunction with Mr. Villiers, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, was appointed a commissioner to investigate the state of our commercial relations with France. The French commissioners were M. Duchatel, and Baron Freville; two elaborate reports were presented to parliament. A less result followed than might have been expected, yet several restrictions were relaxed; some grievances were redressed, and our exports and imports were considerably increased. In 1832, with a special view to the silk trade in France, Dr. Bowring visited Lyons, St. Etienne, and the districts where the silk trade is most extensive. He gave evidence that year before a parliamentary committee, in proof that the French silk manufacture was not promoted by protection, but by the comparative absence of protection; and that in England the removal of restrictions on the importation of foreign silk would rather benefit than injure the home manufacture. In 1833, he visited Belgium on a commercial mission. In 1834, he devoted his exertions to the south of France, |