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

1194 he said truly, " is a very unimpassioned eaten " lating transaction. It is founded on a know " ledge of our resources, and upon the necessi " ties of those who in foreign countries " require our aid, and, however inex " orable the demand, it is one which is " acted on almost in an instant by the results "of reason and calculation." Perhaps, in deed, he was not literally correct in saying that it is acted on " almost in an instant;" for, as he remarked last night, the experience of the present crisis has proved it to be a " great national ob ject " that the Bank should keep a large reserve in bullion, expressly because it is not easy to stop a foreign drain of gold in a very short time. This can only be effected by raising the rate of discount, and, as we have lately seen, the Bank had to raise its rate of discount from five t ) ten per cent. before the demand on our bullion reserve of gold was effectually checked. We are strongly disposed to think that the Bank of England might have prevented the mere currency portion of the panic altogether, had it been their recognised principle to keep a larger bullion reserve than they had usually considered sufficient, and had they consequently not been reduced so low as they were at the time when their effective measures for resisting the foreign drain eventually took effect But waiving this point, Mr. DISRAELI is certainly right in saying that the two principles involved respectively in a foreign drain and an internal panic are completely different, and that the Bank Act of 1844 errs so greatly in this, that it compels the Directors to treat the two phenomena as if they were identical, whereas that which puts a stop to the former inevitably aggravates the latter. A foreign drain of bullion is a very intelli gible phenomenon. It simply consists in a contest between other countries and this country for the possession of a certain species of capital of which, at the moment, the supply, in more than one country, is not equal to the demand. It is " rectified," as the phrase is, by merely raising your price above that of the other countries. When it became necessary to pay ten per cent. for all loan capital in England, it became more profitable to borrow in other countries where the charge was less, and to pay debts to this country by sending here the commodity which had a greater temporary value here than anywhere else — namely, gold. That is, in technical language, the exchanges were rectified, and a supply began to flow in of that which we wanted, and commodities which we wanted less were taken in payment for that supply. The Bank attained its purpose of preventing a further drain on its bullion by rendering it more profitable to send bullion to England than any other kind of commodity. The Act of 1844 does nct in any way injuriously affect the action of the Bank on such a condition of things as this. But an internal drain in a panic—for there cannot be an internal drain except in a case of panic—is a phenomenon of a totally different description. We have shown with some care that circulation does not vary except with an increase or diminution of transactions. No one cares to have money in his pocket merely for the sake of having it in his pocket. We rather prefer, even if we cannot employ it profitably, to keep it more safely than we can keep it in our pockets. What, then, can an internal drain mean? It means simply this, that whenever there is any fear of banks breaking bankers are anxious to have more than they usually need in order to satisfy an uneasy public ; and even private traders to some extent prefer the danger of having more than it would usually be quite safe to keep in their own possession, to the danger of finding that their own bank has stopped payment. Hence this internal drain is not of a commercial nature at all. It is indefinitely increased by a mere breath of suspicion; it almost vanishes away before any evidence which proves that sound ordinary trade can go on without any violent shock. But Sir llonEar PEEL'S Act legislates for this case exactly as it would for a genuine com mercial deina:,(l for gold. It raises the price for loans, adding an additional reason to traders to get loans while they can, THE PRESS, DECEMBER 12,1857. lest they should fail to get them if they delay. In the case of the foreign drain this process brings the gold back to the Bank; in the case of the panic -drain, it takes it faster and faster away. The internal drain is artificial—grounded on a mere fear of what may happen ; the foreign drain is natural, grounded on a knowledge of actual prices. In the former case, the foreign country gots what it wanted—a cheaper aatiele than it could have got elsewhere ; in the latter case, the home withdraWers get what they cease to want, if they find they can easily get it, and what they very eagerly want only if they are refused it. The two cases are really opposite in character, but the Act treats them as the same, and so enhances the evil it was made to cure. The House have decided, it seems, in favour of re appointing the committee of inquiry. But we are sure that its labours will not succeed in making the principles of the question much clearer them at present, tz.nd we earnestly trust that it will not indefinitely postpone legis lation on a subject already so exhaustively discussed. has ever shown any proofs of ability. They say nothing, which is just what Mr. HAYTER would desire. We shall not take upon ourselves the task of echoing all that is said in society about this colonial appointment. Lord NORMANIP un doubtedly did a vast quantity of work for the Whigs in his peculiar way, and it is only na tural that the Noble Marquis should desire to have tho heir to hia Marquisate advanced in the publici service. At the same time we must remark that the Marquis of NORMANDY has already been well rewarded. He was promoted from being an Earl to a Marquis ; he held the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland for four years, and his Lordship was subsequently Secretary for the Colonies and for the Home Depart ment, and was afterwards Ambassador to Paris. The PHIPPSES are certainly a fortunate family. If the peerage of Engiand, Scotland, and Ireland be carefully searched, it would not be possible to name another noble family that, with such little solid pretensions to high aristocratic eminence, has gained 80 lofty a station in the peerage. It cannot be forgotten that obstacles were cast in the way of the House of Fitzwilliam when, during two gene rations, it sought in vain to obtain the Mar quisate of Rockingham, and it is certainly strange that the PHIPPSES shored have a Mar quisate, while the FITZWILLIAMS, with their vast estates and great services to the Whigs, cannot advance beyond their Earldom. We may be told that the promotion in 1837 of the present Marquis of NORMANRY from the rank of an Earl was one of the `• Melbourne jobs." If so, that is the reason why there should be no more jobs in that family. The nomination of Lord MULORAVE to the Governor ship of Nova Scotia was a most indiscreet act, and in no respects is it more to bo censured than because it gives a handle to persons who, with no constitutional objects, delight to mis represent the institutions of the country. OFFICIAL JOBBERY. ON the occasion of a late election in the south west of England the Duke of BEDFORD was lured into a correspondence with a Radical politician of considerable platform notoriety. His Grace on that occasion alluded to the fact that there. were a class of persons who wished that the aristocracy should be excluded entirely from public employment. We agree with his Grace in thinking that the views of such persons are narrow and bigoted. If a subject of her Majesty has decidedly proved himself to possess signal ability for the public service, whether he belongs to the aristocracy or the middle classes, ho should be promoted, and ; the fact of his birth ought not to be taken into account. Facts abun dantly prove that the aristocracy produces numbers of scions with energy and vigour requisite for conducting public affairs, whil e the middle classes in full proportion send forth, after due training, many accomplished officials, with the tact, manners, and discreet boldness required for dealing with the public business of a highly civilised and enterprising community. That there is a party in the country that wishes to encourage class-feelings of jealousy cannot be denied, and we think that it is in. judicious on the part of the Executive to play into the hands of such a party. The nomination of Lord MULGRAVE to the Governor- Generalship of Nova Scotia is denounced as "an aristocratic job." The appointment, cer tainly, is not a good one. We believe the facts to be that Lord NIULGRAVE had hereditary and political claims on the Ministry. He was the Marquis of NORMANBY'S son ; he was a second " whip ;" and he had shown no talent in debate or committees. He had some small tact, and a slight savour of his father's mannerism. No one could say that lie had much personal effect, nor could he be classified amongst " the useful men." Ho was not a ready speaker, nor was he deep in statistics. A brilliant Parliamentary career was not open to him, and accordingly his Lordship has been drafted into the colonial service; and if eventualities shall prove favourable, on a future occasion he will be " translated " into the diplomatic corps, and get something nice in the profession which his father has adopted of late years. If Lord DERBY was in power, and if a young nobleman like Lord MULORAVE was promoted, there would be a great out cry. Mr. HAYTER would probably in that case act as fugleman to the Tartuffes of the Reform Club. It would be said—but we shall not even imagine the coarse and cen sorious tirades that would be poured forth. The Liberals are now in office, and they know how to exercise what the witty Frenchman called " a talent for silence." They raise no question about the fitness of Lord MULORAVE for his appointment ; they do not make invi dious inquiries about whether the Noble Lord THE ANGLO-INDIAN PRESS. THE question of the freedom of the Anglo- Indian press, which Lord ELLEN BOROUGH brought before the House'of Lords on Monday last, is one that does not concern our British fellow-subjects in India alone ; it equally regards the people of this country. And if they should be foolish enough to accord to Ministers their approbation of what has been done in India, they will find when too late the same principle brought into play against themselves. It may be true, as Lord GRANVILLE alleges, that neither he nor Lord CANNING would desire to touch the freedom of the press in England; though we may take leave to doubt their pro fessions, judging by the manner in which they have acted where they have had the power to destroy the press. But Lord GRANVILLE and Lord CANNING are not the only persons in the world entitled to a voice in the matter, nor are we English the only people whom the ques tion tatfects. The Sovereigns of Europe are daily attacked by some one or other of our journals, and the sensibilities of the people they rule over are often equally set at nought. In fact, the English press, however dear its freedom be to ourselves, is viewed with an eye of hostility by the Government of nearly every continental State. But, distasteful as it is to foreign sovereigns, and inflamma tory of the passions of the populations over whom they rule—often as it has been the sub ject of remonstrance, and not unfrequently a threatening cause of rupture with our allies— our Ministers have always hitherto been able to give a sufficient answer to those by whom its independence has been assailed. They have refused to admit the danger, instancing their own case, who are the most frequent subjects of attack. They have declared the freedom of the press to be the inalienable right of Englishmen, and a fundamental prin ciple of the Constitution of the land. They have denied their ability to invade it even in their own behalf, and they have rightly, and. in strict accordance with the comity of nations, refused a protection to foreign Governments which they have disclaimed all pretension to themselves. ,To all, whether English 11