eriod, and then it was that
this department appears to have received serious attention from the
heads of the leading journals.

The description of matter comprised in City articles has not been known
in its present form more than fifty years. There seems a doubt whether
they first originated with the _Times_ or the _Herald_. Opinion is by
some parties given in favour of the last-mentioned paper. Whichever
establishment may be entitled to the praise for commencing so useful a
compendium of City news, one thing appears very certain--viz., that no
sooner was it adopted by the one paper, than the other followed closely
in the line chalked out. The regular City article appears only to have
had existence since 1824-25, when the first effect of that
over-speculating period was felt in the insolvency of public companies,
and the breakage of banks. Contributions of this description had been
made and published, as already noticed, in separate paragraphs
throughout the papers as early as 1811 and 1812; but these took no very
prominent position till the more important period of the close of the
war, and the declaration of peace with Europe.

In 1811, the case of Benjamin Walsh, M.P., a member of the Stock
Exchange, occasioned a prodigious sensation. Sir Thomas Plomer employed
him as his broker, and, buying an estate, found it necessary to sell
stock. Walsh advised him not to sell directly, as the funds were rising;
the deeds were not prepared, and the advice was accepted. Soon after,
Walsh said the time to sell was come, for the funds would quickly fall.
The money being realised, Walsh recommended the purchase of exchequer
bills as a good investment. Till the cash was wanted, Sir Thomas gave a
cheque for L22,000 to Walsh, who undertook to lodge the notes at
Gosling's. In the evening he brought an acknowledgment for L6,000,
promising to make up the amount next day. Sir Thomas called at his
bankers, and found that a cheque for L16,000 had been sent, but too late
for presentation, and in the morning the cheque was refused. In fact,
Walsh had disposed of the whole; giving L1,000 to his broker, purchasing
L11,000 of American stock, and buying L5,000 worth of Portuguese
doubloons. He was tried and declared guilty; but certain legal
difficulties were interposed; the judges gave a favourable decision; he
was released from Newgate, and formally expelled from the House of
Commons. Such crimes seem almost incredible, for such culprits can ha