The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

1122 shape whatever the union of these pro vinces, to consent only to make such con cessions to the Routnan people as may prevent their larger demands being en tertained without endeavouring to seek a cause for this singular change in the views of our Government, a change so inconsistent with those great principles which should regu late our foreign policy, we are confident that public opinion in this country regards it as the true interest of England to support and encourage the establishment of a decided and cordial union between these two provinces. Upon the firm ground of principle and prece dent we are bound to Use every effort to secure a due observation of the provisions of the Treaty of Paris; and we hold it to be the duty of a British Minister to take advantage of every legitimate opportunity for the advance ment of the cause of Constitutional Govern ment. To obtain these results, and to pre serve the national honour, wo must support the union of the Danubian provinces, and respect the wishes of the Moldo-Wallachian people. Such a policy we are confident would prove not only consistent with the true inte rests of this country, but it would form a firm foundation for the peace of Europe. We do not believe that the peace of Europe must necessarily be broken by the great Powers if a contrary policy be pursued ; but if the provisions of the Treaty of Paris are not to be considered binding on each and every point, it is binding on none, and the peace of Europe, if it be not broken by an infraction of the Treaty of Paris, may be very seriously imperilled. There are but two possible destinies for these frontier provinces. Either they must be politically united and self-go verned, independent and powerful, or, separate and disorganised, they will become impotent and absorbed. There is no intermediate course to be pursued, and no intermediate result will occur. Separation is impotence and ultimate absorption : union is immediate strength. It is for those European Powers favourable to real progress and to the develop. merit of peoples to make their choice between these alternatives. For the last forty years Europe has witnessed the ill-effects of the separation of these provinces. Foreign in fluences, foreign protectorates, tyranny, and corruption have wasted the resources of these countries, and placed their people, helpless and impotent, without an army, with out fortresses or a defensible frontier, with an exhausted treasury, and an undeveloped com merce—in fact, without a moral or a political existence—at the feet of every oppressor. It is this state of things Lord PALMERSTON seeks to perpetuate. We warn him, if he does not ter minate it now with wisdom, he will find it, sooner or later, ended by violence. There is in all countries a servile crowd who find their " private benefit " in the "public disorders," and who prefer the cor- I ruptions of tyranny to the inexorable equality of just laws, but here voxpopuliissuprernalex, and no argument can impose a settlement 'of sepa ration upon the understanding of any one who has watched tho transactions ibetween Turkey and Austria for the last few years as either sound policy or sound honesty. As a rule of policy, interference in the affairs of other nations should be decisive in its character, and effectual in its end. The interference in the affairs of these pro vinces is practically to ameliorate their con dawn, but the separation will perpetuate those abuses and that oppression it was the aim of the Treaty of Paris to abolish. That their complete union can alone insure the in auguration of a new and healthier system we firmly believe, and we are supported in this view by the proof that every other form of organisation and government has failed to achieve a single creditable result. With respect to the conduct of England, we maintain that in this instance it is her duty to give the great moral force of her name in support of constitutional government, not disorder; and that her Ministers, under these circumstances, should assist, not obstruct, a people in their endeavour to achieve for themselves the right of self-government and the means of self defence. The emery act of exter ding constitutional liberty is the best security for social order; and it is the THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 21,1857. supreme interest, not only of England, but of France and Turkey, that a government com bining the elements of authority and freedom should be firmly established in these Princi• palities. Ntoldo-Wallachia so constituted, and enjoying a guarantee from Europe, would be far less likely to be subjugated, or ever to sub mit to the permanent influence of a foreign power, than when disunited, and ruled by the despotic will of corrupt nominees. Nobody can accuso us of a desire to uphold that turbulent spirit of interference in the affairs of other nations which has characterised the policy of Lord PALMERSTON, but hero is a legitimate opportunity for interference offered to us; and if it is our duty in conformity with a public treaty to exercise a British influence in the regulation of the internal affairs of these provinces, that influence, we assert, should be exercised in the spirit we derive from our own constitutional form of government, and in the sense of extending to these coun tries, as far as they are able and desirous to receive them, institutions based upon the principles of those of which we know from ex perience the inestimable advantages. Upon this point we believe there can be as little dif ference of opinion in England as there is that Lord PALMERSTON pursues a policy diametri cally opposed to such an obvious duty of a British Minister, when, in conjunction with Austria, and opposed to France, he seeks to maintain in these Principalities a system of absolute government at once the most cor rupt, licentious, and oppressive. INDIAN FINANCE-CURRENCY. INDIAN finance is about to engage the imme diate attention of the Legislature, and there fore we think it is as well to bring a few points regarding it to the notice of those in both Houses who may not be deeply ac quainted with Indian affairs. To go into the whole question in the brief period that will elapse before the meeting of Parliament would be obviously impmsible, considering the space required for other matters equally pressing in our Columns. But something may bo done— enough, perhaps, to give a general idea of the subject—within a very moderate compass; and this we propose to do in the present and in a second article. The present article we shall devote to Currency, and next week pur pose giving another on Credit. We shall endeavour in these to put all that is most essential regarding the matter before our readers as clearly and succinctly as we can ; and we trust that the result will bo to prove to them that there is nothing very abstruse in it after all. We shall show that the difficulties that beset our Indian finances have been caused solely by the violation of the most ordinary principles ; and that the only way to solve that, as well as every other Indian pro blem, is to recur to those known laws on mone tary subjects which are in every country the same. The Indian currency, as it existed under the Mogul empire, and in our own days down to the latter portion of Lord DALHOUSIE'S vice regal reign, consisted of gold, and silver, and copper, all of which were a legal tender at the established rates. Under AKBER the unit of calculation was the copper darn, forty of which went to the standard rupee. The rupee, as its name denotes, was a silver coin, the word being derived from the same root as the word rouble, which signifies silver in the Russian tongue. For general purposes the rupee may be estimated at two shillings, though it has sometimes exceeded, and now falls short, in intrinsic value of that amount. Of the copper dams there were halves and fourths. Under our own system the division of the copper currency is different; but that is immaterial to the present question, which concerns the precious metals alone. Of the rupee, worth forty dams, there were various fractional pro portions coined ; but the half and quarter rupee were the most current in AKBER'S day as now. Of gold coins there were several sorts, but the chief was the jilaly mohur, worth four hundred dams, or ten rupees, with the dchn and mun, which formed the half and quarter of the lil 1 ~.a.y mohur. Thus, A.KBEIR'S chief coins were gold pieces of about the value of an English sovereign, half-sovereign, and five-shilling piece respectively ; and silver coins of the value of a whole, a half, and a quarter florin. Both gold and siver were equally a legal tender until the gold had fallen three grains in weight and the silver six grains, when they were only received at a depreciated value at the Royal treasuries. This was done to obviate the loss caused by clipping and sweating, just as is now the case in respect to sovereigns here. Under the native dynasties there were no banks of issue; but a very large business was done in hoondies, or private bankers' bills, at a few days' sight. It would be difficult to conceive a more convenient currency than this of MCBEE'S time. But afterwards the standards of both gold and silver coin were often changed; while the effect of foreign commerce and of frequent wars and revolutions was to raise gold to a very high premium in reference to silver coin. The consequence was that most of the gold fell out of circulation, being used generally for hoarding, or as the medium of remittances to foreign States. In our own day the mohurs coined by the East India Company were of sixteen rupees value, and they were always soon absorbed, till the Californian and Aus tralian gold discoveries totally altered the relative value of the precious metals through out the world. Then, of course, gold began to be largely sent into the Mint for coinage, and, as in France, it became the most economical and convenient form to pay in. It, therefore, as in that country, would have greatly superseded silver in all transactions, but for the interposi tion of Lord DALHOUSIE'S new currency law. This nobleman, or his Indian advisers, seemed to think if payments in gold were to be a gain to the people they must be a loss to the Company. So gold was declared to be no longer a legal tender in India, it ceased to be circulated, and a double drain on Europe for silver on account of India at once set in. For the gold which had begun to be brought forth from its hiding-places in consequence of the depreciation in its value, and sent into circu lation, had to be forwarded to other markets ; while silver had to be imported largely to keep up the entire currency in a single medium, and to replace the private hoards which had always previously been made in gold. What effect this enormous drain has had on the silver market in Europe the present state of the currency on the Continent tells. But this was not the only measure of Lord DALHOUSIE'S which enhanced the comparative scarcity of silver in India in an extraordinary degree. Not only was it made by him the only legal tender, but the requirements of it were greatly extended by his introduction everywhere of the system of paying the land revenue in cash instead of in kind. Through out the whole of Scinde and the Punjaub, and other native States lately annexed, the chief part of the revenue had been always paid in kind ; while grain assignments were given upon different villages iu lieu of salaries to most of the servants of the State. Lord DAL HOUSIE'S system was to require the revenue to be paid everywhere in silver coin; and in consequence a vast deal larger proportion of it was required to carry on the business of