The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 19, 1857. neighbourhoods is very great ; and it cannot be forgotten that the agitation against the House of Lords in 1836 and 1N37 completely failed, and did much injury to the Whigs and Radicals. It is exaggeration also to assert that " the power of legislation the Peers have " lost on all subjects about which the people " feel any real interest." The history of Par liament subsequent to the Reform Bill shows that the House of Lords regulated the rate of progress ; it defended the integrity of the " Church of Great Britain and Ireland ;" it compelled the Melbourne Ministry to amend many of its Radical measures; and it in troduced into the new Poor Law Act clauses which mitigated the harshness of the ultra economists. " Thank God we have a House " of Lords " was the utterance of a democrat. But though the social influence of the House of Peers is still considerable, we believe that its political influence must be guarded in any future Reform Bill. The Knights of the Shire who now represent the counties would take care, as far as they are concerned, that a scheme which would endanger " the conser vative element " of the House of Peers should be opposed. Yet, if by clamour, or organised political forces, acting under the strategy of the Whig families, a sweeping measure as similating the county and borough franchise were passed into law, we believe in that case the power of the House of Peers would be vitally endangered, and the Constitution would cease to be one of mixed powers, and would degenerate into one of a simple form, in which all would depend on the House of Commons. Under the present system the stability of the Constitution is provided for, and care must be taken that under the plausible purpose of " regulating the franchise " the entire English political structure be not dangerously under- mined. When it was proposed to abolish East Retford, a principle was at stake, for the cases of Gatton and Sarum, and boroughs of that class, were involved. So with the county franchise. If it be assumed that no difference should exist between the county and borough franchises, a rule would be introduced which, in the nature of things, must eventuate in vast political changes. In legislation, as in all practical works of science or art, it is always necessary to contemplate changes with par ticular reference to their effects as a whole ; and in any new law on the franchise we can not to strongly enforce the obligation of providing for the harmonious working of the great constitutional forces of Sovereign, Lords, and Commons. NORTHAMPTON WHIGS AND UN-"CIVIL LIBERTY." WE have read in our time many election addresses, but we never remember one so ill composed, in point of taste, as that to the electors of Northamptonshire signed " FITZ PATRICK HENRY VERNON." When death has caused a vacancy in a seat it is customary for a candidate to allude to the deceased repre sentative, and in the present instance Auousres STAFFORD had been publicly lamented by many gentlemen amongst his political opponents. The Times had acknowledged his philanthropic labours, and several Liberal organs did full justice to the private virtues of the lamented dead; but it was of his own good qualities and the merits of his father that the gentle man answering to the name of "FITZPATRICK HENRY VERNON " was thinking. He had not one word to say with chivalrous grace over the bier of a political adversary. But who is " Mr. FITZPATRICK HENRY VEatNos " ? His name has an odd sound. Which is he a Fitzpatrick, or a Henry, or a Vernon? By the style of his address we might suppose him to be like Cerberus—" three gentlemen at once." He is neither a Fitz patrick, nor a Henry, nor a Vernon ! He is another unit of the tribe of Smith. He is the son of the incomparable " Mr. VERNON SMITH." 1 - I . e flings aside his father's name, but retains " hereditary " principles. Th 6 race of Smith has certainly produced some odd speci mens, but Mr. FITZPATRICK VERNON 18 a most original one. He ought to be put in a glass case and exhibited for the instruction of political anatomists. There seems to be a fatality about this branch of the SMITHS and their names. Mr. CANNING christened ROBERT SMITH, the first of the family, by the name of " Bobus," for " Bob ;" and when " Bobus " SMITH along with " Con versation SHARP" failed in the House of Com mons, the name stuck with the tenacity of a ridiculous appendage. SYDNEY SMITH, the Canon of St. Paul's, was perpetually con founded with Sir SIDNEY SMITH, the Hero of Acre. The process by which " Mr. Henry Smith" is metamorphosed into "Mr. Fitz patrick Vernon" resembles those ingenious etymological developments by which gram marians, at their wits' end, derive one word from another to which it has scarcely a nominal relation. One cannot help thinking of the story of a " Mr. Tayleure," who had promoted his name from Taylor. "Is that :Fowler giving " tongue now ?" he asked of the huntsman with as imposing an air as if he were a candidate on the Whig side for Northamptonshire. " No, sir, we now call him Jowleure." It is a troublesome thing to recollect so long a name as " Fitzpatrick Henry Vernon." The master of the ceremonies at Bath once asked BEAU BRUMMELL what he would advise hint to do with odd French names that he could not easily pronounce. "Oh ! call each or any "of them ' Monsieur &c., &c.,' and make " a low bow." The electors of Northampton shire have declined being represented by " Mr. Fitzpatrick, &c., &c. ;" but they have not made him a low bow. Lord LILFORD, a Liberal, and a connection of the Fox family, also distinguished himself in his correspondence with Mr. HUNT. After intimating to Mr. HUNT that his Lordship did not think the Honourable Gentleman qualified to represent the county, his Lord ship added—" I must, therefore, request that " my tenantry may not be canvassed for their " votes in your favour." Oh ! the Whig love of purity of election ! Is this the "civil liberty" which " Mr. Fitzpaddy VERNON" ad vertised himself as ready to support? Mr. HUNT very properly declined to accede to such a request, more especially as it was made in a style that just fell short of what was downright offensive. Afterwards, Lord LILFORD deter mined to improve his style, and learn a better method of letter-writing, and he sent a politer answer to one of Mr. HUNT'S calmly resolute notes. The latter gentleman contented him self with the admission of his right to canvass the tenants of Lord LILFORD, and so the matter terminated. We cannot compliment the Northampton shire Liberals on their personal bearing. Mr. FITZPATRICK HENRY—We mean Mr. FITZPATRICK SMITH —no, Mr. VERNON SMITH—or whatever his name is or was—had not one single grace ful word for the memory of a man who was a great favourite in Northamptonshire ; and although Lord LILFORD was formerly a Lord in Waiting to the Queen, it could not be in ferred from his first letter to Mr. HUNT that his Lordship had ever been to Court in his life. MERCANTILE CAUSES OF THE CRISIS. WE maintained a short time since that to ascribe the commercial crisis to any cause so necessarily limited in extent and secondary in character as those which regul ate the currency of the country is out of all keeping with the nature of the crisis and with its magnitude. No doubt a great deal of the difficulty has been due to the causes we then pointed out—a too great investment in im provements that only pay interest, and do not reproduce the principal periodically, thus diminishing the capital needed for conducting efficiently the old investments. When private people, tempted by the promise of a high rate of interest, withdraw their capital from productive employment, and sink it in the form of railways and steamboats, or agricultural improvement, they diminish the floating capital of the world pro tanto ; and if it does not embarrass trade, its place must be supplied from savings —that is, from sources 1219 which are not as yet otherwise productively employed. It is only out of savings thatimprove mews which sink a great deal of capital can he made without embarrassing trade, as the interest and profit, however great, can, in but few new undertakings indeed, repay the capital sunk within any short period. Now, merchants, properly so called, are quite as much in .danger of originating this embarassment to trade as any other part of the commercial world. Properly speaking, no doubt, their capital and credit is all employed in tran4ferring wealth, their profit being only a commission on the ordinary expenses of managing an exchange between distant parts of the globe. They are intermediate between producers and consumers. And the credit that is given them rests on two considerations —the belief that they have a considerable capital of their own to cover any losses which they may meet with by the failures of con sumers who owe them money, and the belief that they are men who do their business cautiously, and are not likely to be found under heavy engagements with any but solid firms. A good deal of a man's credit depends on the capital he is supposed to have em barked—a good deal more on the nature of his business-reputation for careful trading with well-known firms. Of course, if we could suppose, for a moment, that a merchant were quite sure never to make a bad debt, he might carry on his business for an indefinite length of time, simply on credit; for, as his pay ments are always coming in and replacing his disbursements, it is not theoretically neces sary, as it is with the producer, that he should have a good sum in hand to begin with at all — provided one man will trust him until another pays him. in such a case, then, his only floating capital would be credit,—this, and this alone, would be his means of trading ; and it is obvious that the credit would be given him, if his circumstances were supposed to be known, entirely upon his reputation for judg ment, caution, honesty, and on nothing else ; for if he should lose at all, he would be unable to pay. This, of course, is a theoretical case. We have put it only to show how powerful credit is ; it m 4 ht be almost the only floating capital of the mercantile world, supposing no merchant did anything but transfer from pro ducer to consumer, and did that with perfect accuracy and without any loss. He need sink nothing, as the producer must, in fixed machinery or laud; his returns aro spread over the year as equally as his outlay ; he is a mere medium of supply. If all the consumers pay him he can pay all the producers, and will have his own expenses and profits over. If he had to pay sooner than he had received pay ment, he would draw a bill of exchange on his debtor for goods received at the ordinary date, discount his bill by the aid of a bank, and so turn his credits into cash. Now, in such a system of things as this, when credit consti tutes the only floating capital, it is obvious enough that there is absolutely no room for loss, except such loss as can be covered by savings, and no possibility of bona-fide con version of floating capital into fixed capital, because there is no floating capital but credit, and credit, moreover, founded not ou any stock of accumulated wealth, but on the confi dence that all which comes in as payment from consumers is pledged to pay for what pro ducers sena. Now to this state of things—where there is no margin whatever for ordinary business loss, for the failure of a speculation, or for the with drawal of any sum to be sunk as fixed capital —the state of things just before a commercial crisis is very nearly approximated ; and then losses come, and with them the crisis as a nel cessary consequence. Great houses seldom fail from ordinary business losses, that is from bad debts which they had no reason to expect would be bad debts. They fail because in some form or other they have lost or sunk the floating capi tal with which they started, and are trying to make their credit carry them through, or per haps even more than carry them through—to make the credit regain for them, by fresh spe- . culation, all they have lost. There is a limited supply, and only a limited supply, of mercan tile capital, all of it needed for the actual safety of trade. If any large proportion be abstracted, and locked up in any way, the state