The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

SEPTEMBER 30, 1854. Lord DERBY'S Government. Even the defeat of Mr. DISRAELI'S budget afforded the opportu nity of a reconstruction of Lord DERBY'S Go vernment, and of including in it those whose co-operation Lord DERBY had solicited in the preceding year, but who had refused their co-operation by reason of the differences which then prevailed on questions of commercial policy. Some people have gone so far as to suppose that the refusal of Mr. DISRAELI to amend his budget, and the chivalrous resigna tion of Lord DERBY, were influenced by some such considerations or expectations as these. We say, then, that the Coalition formed for the overthrow of the Conservative Government was base, unprincipled, and treacherous; and, by the sacrifices which dishonour and treachery involve, Mr. GLADSTONE earned for himself the distinction he has since enjoyed. But just in proportion as a man raises himself by undue means to a high and honourable and respon sible station, in the same proportion must he expect to have himself judged severely, and to have his measures subjected to a stern scrutiny, both as regards their policy and the motives which may have led to them. Mr. GLADSTONE'S first measure as the Finance Minister was the reduction of the rate of interest on Exchequer Bills, and this measure shall form the subject of our strictures upon the present occasion. It was rather stealthily effected ; the first mention of it was in the House of Commons on the 22nd of February, 1853, when it was elicited by a question of Mr. MASTERMAN ; and it was then stated, with a suspiciously elaborate apology, that on the 14th the rate of interest had been reduced from lid. to Id. per day. Before discussing this first of Mr. GLADSTONE'S financial measures it may not be amiss to make a few remarks upon the nature and inci dents of these Exchequer Bills which form the subject of his operations. Our readers, of course, are well aware that an Exchequer Bill is, in fact, a Government bill for a given sum, payable in twelve months, to the holder, with interest at a given rate, and negotiable with the utmost facility. Exchequer Bills thus constitute a species of currency, entering into our circulation to some extent, forming in a great degree the means by which the Govern ment and the Bank conduct their large trans actions, and being used in certain cases as money in payment of taxes and for other purposes. It therefore follows that Exchequer Bills are influenced and operated upon, as regards their value, in a great degree by the principles and laws which are applicable to our monetary system, and that the amount and condition of Exchequer Bills affect materially the value of money. The interest on Exchequer Bills is lower usually than the ordinary rate of interest ; but there are many purposes in commercial matters which they advantageously subserve. Upon their demand for these purposes, as well as upon the rate of interest, depends their value in the market, which value is denoted by the premium they bear. The premium, therefore, it is necessary to remark, cannot be taken as the criterion precisely of the relation which the rate of interest payable on Exchequer Bills bears to the rate of interest or value of money gene rally. We have thought it necessary to make these remarks because considering the large amount of Exchequer Bills (nearly eighteen millions)—considering their various uses—and considering, above all, that they constitute the means by which, on an emergency, Government can raise money for State purposes—we hold that nothing in a financial point of view can be more im portant than that these securities should be managed on sound principles—that they should not be rashly or inconsiderately tampered with—and that they should be kept always in a high and satisfactory state of credit. For these reasons Chancellors of the Exchequer, before Mr. GLADSTONE, have been very cautious in reducing the rate of interest on Exchequer Bills. It is no light matter to tamper with 18 millions entering so exten sively. int o our w h o l e system, an d w hi c h , b y an Improvident step, may be withdrawn from cir culation or occasion serious losses and de ngements in sustaining them And when Chancellors of the Exchequer have effected a THE PRESS. reduction of interest on Exchequer Bills with advantage to the public, it has been after maturely observing the indications of the Money Market as evidenced by the state of the funds, the rate of discount, the bullion in Bank, and condition of our circulation. The general laws which influence these matters are applicable to Exchequer Bills—to seize a favourable opportunity in conformity with those laws indicates financial sagacity—to run counter to those laws is a financial blunder which would be inexcusable even in a junior Lord of the Treasury. In June, 1852, Mr. DISRAELI reduced the rate of interest from ltd. to ltd. on 9,238,7001. Exchequer Bills, being the amount then ex changeable, effecting thereby a clear saving to the public of 35,0301. a year, without any drawback or inconvenience whatever. Our readers will find a statement of this in the Paper 66 of last session. He had carefully watched for and took advantage of the oppor tunity—the tendency of the funds for a consi derable time had been upwards. In March they were 97 to 98; in June they were 100 to 101. The bullion in Bank, which in March was 19 millions, had increased gradually to 21 millions; the circulation from 33 millions to 35 millions. Exchequer Bills were at a premium of 83 to 69 ; the rate of discount was 2 per cent. Had Mr. DISRAELI remained in office, exercising the same caution, no doubt he could, and would, have effected a similar reduction in the 8 millions of Exchequer Bills exchangeable in March, 1852, which would have given to the public a gain in the charge for the unfunded debt of nearly 70,0001. a year. Let us now examine the state of things and the circumstances under which the reduction of interest was made by Mr. GLADSTONE, and the results of that operation. It was made, as we have stated, on the 14th of February, six weeks after he became Finance Minister, and fixed the rate of all Exchequer Bills, on the next exchange, to Id. a day, or 1/. 10s. sd. a year. This, we believe, was the lowest rate of interest which Exchequer Bills have ever borne. What, then, were the cir cumstances of the case ? Were they such as to warrant the reduction ? We have stated that, Exchequer Bills being liable to the same laws and influences which are applicable to all monetary matters, to contravene these laws is an unpardonable blunder in a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and must result necessarily in financial derangement and loss. The price of Consols varied— In December, 1852, from 1011 to 101. In January, 1853, front 100} to 991. The bullion in Bank was— In December, 1852, maximum 21,246,8901. 66 minimum 20,071,9271. In January, 1853, maximum 20,071,9251. 66 minimum 18,665,5551. The circulation was— In December, 1852, maximum 35,246,8901. minimum 34,071,9251. In January, 1853, maximum 34,071,9251. 64 minimum 32,665,553/. The rate of discount was raised by the Bank of England on the 6th of January, 1853, from 2 to 21 per cent., and on the 21st of January from 21 to 3 per cent. Here we have taken the four most obvious and unquestionable indications of the state of the Money Market. It is impossible, we think, for any one who will take the trouble of examining these figures to avoid coming to the conclusion that in February, 1853, there were such unequivocal symptoms of an up ward tendency in the value of money as should have induced any prudent man, to say nothing of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, to foresee the difficulties that were approaching, and yet this was just the period chosen by Mr. GLADSTONE to reduce the rate of interest on Exchequer Bills from 21. ss. 7d. to 11. 10s. sd. We shall deal next with the results. NECESSITY FOR PROTESTANT VIGILANCE. (From a Correspondent.) IT is interesting to observe the using growth of Protestant feeling. That Romanism has become really formidable is now the conviction of hundreds 915 of thousands who recently viewed its advances with the indifference of contempt. The subject is seen to have the gravest political and religious impor tance. The peculiar aspects of the latter phase are not within the special province of strictly-political consi deration. Public opinion concerns itself, in the main, only with high social and constitutional issues; the subtleties of mere polemical disputation must be left to those charged with theological responsi bilities. The progress of Popery can be best resisted by the calm vigilance of Protestant public opinion. It will not be enough, however, to indicate danger when the state vessel is on the breakers unless the crew attend to their duties. The most eloquent speeches, the most brilliant essays, fail of effect in politics unless public opinion endorse their views and enforce their purposes. We were much struck by the replies of Mr. DISRAEII to some of the various addresses recently presented to him. The Hight Honourable Gentleman truly stated " that the " power of a public man to effect good for his coun " try depends on the support given to him by " opinion." The common sense and financial know ledge of WALPOLE, the dazzling genius of BOLING BROKE, the sublime eloquence of the elder, and the lofty character of the younger, PITT, would be of no potential efficacy in politics unless the moving power of public opinion gave their designs and speeches the force of representative reality. Statesmanship in resisting rash, or promoting u'eful, projects must work with the aid of social convictions developed amongst various orders of the community at large. And such must be the case with reference to the timely and calmly-judicious views put forward by Mr. Disnizu. The conviction is rapidly growing that we must defend our Protestantism ; and, if the free public mind of England be kept thoroughly alive to a vivid sense of its worth, and to a keen appre hension of the insidious dangers of priestly theocracy and religious absolutism, we shall not fear for the result. But, in this as in other instances, to be forewarned is to be forearmed; and it is of great importance to mark the limits where the plea of the inviolability of internal liberty spuriously put forward as a shield by the Church of Rome should end. The maxim that under a free Constitution the Legislature should not meddle with a sectinternally is true ; but it is true, like any principle in moral science, with qualifications. If a sect contain within itself an incendiary principle of singularly expansive force ; if it have secret societies ruled by directors in foreign countries, and a clergy in the closest intimacy with a vast external confe deracy not subject to our national authority ; it is quite plain that, in this particular case, such a sect (though its individual members are fully entitled to their personal liberties) can never be dismissed from political scrutiny with the apathetic toleration given to the Quaker, the Anabaptist, or the Unitarian. Heterodox theology may be safely left by the Legis lature to polemical refutation. WARBURTON in his day silenced the small Deists of his time; Hoasixr derisively exposed "the small Latin and less Greek" of the Socinian PRIESTLEY; PAI.EY and WATSON gave most effective replies to the audacious flippancy of PAINE. An act of Parliament could not in those cases have refuted the fallacies or exposed the su • perficiality of socinian sciolists or deistical declaim ers, empty of religion and energetic in proclaiming it. But, when the Deists and Socinians of 1793 entered into a close " corresponding " alliance with foreign incendiaries, very effective and repressive legislation was applied to their particular cases by Mr. PITT, and most eloquently defended by Mr. BURKE. Unitarians became gravely obnoxious to the power of opinion, not so much for their bad theology as for their vicious citizenship, at once anti. monanhical and anti-English. Since then Unita rians have carefully avoided foreign politics, and are treated like other Protestant dissenters, while their tenets on the Trinity are left to the victorious reason ing of WATERLAND and MAGEE. A Conservative Administration, of which Lord LYNDHURST was the Chancellor, passed for them that " Dissenters' Chapel Bill" commonly called after their particular sect. But let us now suppose that the Unitarians of England and Ireland were subject to the spiritual supremacy of a foreign potentate, also proclaiming himielf "the Vicegerent of Chiist upon Earth," and that a secret Unitarian Cabinet in a distant land had its concealed emissaries scattered throughout En - land, using foreign gold for the erection of anti- English churches, and pulling the wires of two scores of Socinian puppets in the House of Com mons, gradually erecting a formidable imperium in imperio, and artfully corrupting by extraordinary means the religious teachers of Oxford,--supposing that they mesmerised degenerate statesmen, perverted orthodoxy and extinguished English feeling, influenced episcopal heads with a reeling tendency hitherto be lieved peculiar only to the heels of opera-dancers,— in that case, would Unitarians, with foreign gold and