however, Lord
Liverpool in the upper house, and Mr. Canning in the commons declared
that ministers were prepared to propose a general measure regarding the
corn-laws; but that it would be unfair towards the country and towards
parliament to bring it forward before the Christmas recess. Under these
circumstances the bill of indemnity, which was rendered necessary by the
order of the council for the admission of certain grain into the ports
of the United Kingdom, a measure demanded by the late scanty harvest,
was passed without opposition.

MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE ON JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES, ETC.

On the 5th of December Alderman Waithman moved for the appointment of
a select committee upon the joint-stock speculation of the last three
years. In his speech he showed that during the time mentioned there
had been no less than six hundred companies formed, requiring for the
execution of their intended operations, a capital of many millions. He
complained of the dishonest views with which many of these were set on
foot; the knavery by which a fictitious value was given to shares
which had cost nothing; and of the misery produced by this systematic
swindling. He remarked, that if a man purchased in the lottery, he knew
something of what he was doing, that he was giving a certain sum for
a very unlikely chance, and that in doing so he was conferring some
benefit on government. But the joint-stock gambling was of a much more
atrocious kind: it was gambling with false dice. The loss itself on the
whole speculation was an evil, but the great and signal grievance was,
that the holders of the shares, now worth nothing, were not the losers.
The original swindlers worked up the market to the point which they had
expected it to attain: then down went the shares, and when they were
down the original swindlers again bought them up, and were now the
holders. He instanced the Arigna Mining Company as a proof of this
nefarious practice. In that company, he said, there were three thousand
shares, and the first deposit was L5. In one day the premium rose upon
those shares from 8 1/2 to 24, then it got to 26. and then it dropped to
24. Whether this was or was not a trick he would leave it to the house
to determine. How such proceedings were brought about, he said, he would
leave to any one to form an opinion. Afterwards, however, he boldly told
the house how the proceedings originated. This Arigna Mining Company,
he said, were seekin