The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

DECEMBER 15, 1855. to the East, and both England and France are beginning to feel the drain. That the mere keeping up the circulation in India to the amount absolutely required is no trifling matter may be inferred from this fact, that the annual public revenue alone, including that of native States, is about four hundred mil lions of rupees, all of which, or nearly all, has to be paid in silver coin. If in England, with all our aids in the shape of banks and paper-money, the temporary abstraction of a few millions from the circulation causes the proportionate value of the rest so greatly to rise, what must be the case in a country like India, where, except at tho Presidencies, the operation of banks and paper-money may be almost said to be unknown? A great addition to the difficulty has arisen from the introduc tion of the new system of levying the land revenue, which has now universally to be paid iu cash, whereas formerly it was very generally taken in kind. Every increase of commerce also brings with it an increased demand for silver, in which all payments for native produce have to be made. Commerce, however, has the compensating effect of drawing a considerable quantity of silver from China, without which the Indian silver currency could not be for a day maintained. To obtain silver, then, at the periods for paying the revenue and for exporting produce, has now become a serious difficulty even with the most solvent men. As the time comes round, the relative value of silver rises in pro portion to the inadequacy of the circulation to supply the demands on it that are then made; the produce of the fields is sold at a ruinous sacrifice, in order to realise the rents ; and from ten to fourteen per cent. is the rate paid as interest by merchants at the Presidencies for accommodation on the most approved bills. The exchange on England rises to a height that must, one would think, exclude the drawer from all hopes of profit , every one is in want of cash to complete his purchases and engagements ; and new elements of loss and confusion come in still further to depress the agriculture and commerce of a country which require for their development the nicest man agement and the most fostering care. It may be almost doubted whether an annual irrup tion of plundering Mahrattas would inflict more losses on the whole than those created by this annual sacrifice of produce throughout the land to obtain cash to meet the revenue de mands. To an affair of such importance, and which in the nature of things must daily increase in magnitude as the premium on silver rises, the serious attention of the Legislature must ere long be turned. Monetary derangements in India, the effects of which are felt in England and on the Continent as well, are matters which cannot go on for any considerable period without adjustment. The precise remedy for the evil it might be difficult at first sight to determine, though of its vastness there can be no doubt : a Parliamentary Committee would perhaps be the best mode of arriving at a solution of the difficulty, when the time for the solution of it shall have arrived. The re verting to the system of taking revenue in kind, is one that would to a certain extent meet it, but that is a course which probably no one would recommend. The issuing a paper currency under the authority of Govern ment equal to the amount of the annual public income of India, and which should be receiv able as revenue and convertable on demand, would be another mode of lessening the great run for silver, whenever the time for paying the revenue comes round. A third plan would be to have a mixed currency—equally legal tenders of gold and silver; but we are inclined to think that the simplest remedy of all, and the best, would be to assimilate the monetary standard to that of England, making it gold throughout the empire. A PREMIER WITHOUT A PARTY. " If the nose of CLEOPATRA had been an inch " shorter," said PASCAL, " the fate of the world " might have been changed;" and if Lord JOHN RUSSELL had been a little less wilful, England would not now have been exposed to the hazard of committing her Government to THE PRESS. to a Premier without a principle. The " one campaign•more " men are the only party which support Lord PALMERSTON. Their war interests are of a sordid kind. Their fortunes must be made at any price, though their country's future may be darkened by succumbing to the ephemeral folly of the hour. These sutlers of the Stock Exchange calculate on a regular glut of marketable Scrip, while there is a Premier in Downing-street whose policy it would be to nurse a street riot into a national revolution, in hopes of finding political Stock in the commotion. It is well to know that the Whig party are now beginning to feel most anxious about the wild work likely to follow from a reign of Lord PALMERSTON. We do its members simple justice in saying that selfish passions alone do not excite their instincts against the twenty years' apprentice of old Toryism, now placed at the helm of the Whig vessel. They have enough of honest feeling to be apprehensive of the results of sustaining a Premier in England who seems likely, even if the Russian war were closed, to commence one with America, in his capacity of storm-raiser. We are not surprised, therefore, at the symptoms of internal anxiety which have in certain social circles of the Whigs been dis closed within the last few days. Journalism cannot do full justice to such mysterious, and it may be momentous, movements of the great magnates of party, while their precursory intrigues are still kept "private." The Nestor of Whiggery may migrate from his palace in Wilts to the Abbey of another grand oligarch in Bedfordshire, but in the absence of open manifestations the journalist must still be reticent. Spleen, however, is rarely silently digested by the true-born Whig. The vanity of a patrician family, baulked at once of popu larity and power, must explode before long. Think of the mouthings that must result from the fact that the Palmerston Ministry is the first case on record of a Whig Cabinet without any connection with Woburn! But there are other domestic difficulties resulting from such a Premier. The Whigs are accustomed to talk and trade upon "Reform." They know perfectly well that Lord PALMERSTON is not a friend to " Reform Bills." His politics are a vicious mixture of canting Liberalism and corrupt Toryism. The shibboleth of the Reform Club, "Ballot," his Lordship branded as " nonsense." He likes Liberalism only in the shape of Deputa tions with addresses. But he does not want their views carried farther than that he should swallow their adulation, and then that his Secretary should bow his flatterers, where their idol has seldom been—" out." Modera tion has been finely called a " forlorn political virtue," hut resignation is not a Palmerstonian habit. He would carry on a per fas aut nefas. If he could run his contraband cargo into Downing-street, he would not care if the Con stitution foundered. Besides, whatever may become of the war, it is certain that one more Parliamentary campaign under Palmerstonian auspices must explode all the traditions of Whig leadership. The Liberal party gave the old Tories an " Oliver " when they accepted Mr. CANNING as a leader, but the Tories have returned a " Roland " in the fatal present of Lord PALMERSTON. As the advent of Mr. CANNING without a party to the Premiership first broke down the old Tory connection, so the rule of Viscount PALMERSTON, the nominee of Mr. PERCEVAL, and the follower of Lord CASTLEREAGH, is gradually dissolving the Whig system. In this particular point of view, the Conservatives will have grounds for rejoicing that Whiggery must date its decline in our age from the moment that Lord PALMERSTON, a great anomaly in politics, was accepted as a chief of the party which rallied to the Foxes, the Russells, the Greys of other times. But on public grounds, the continuance of Lord PALMERSTON as First Minister is a fatal dispensation. If we want to get up a war with the United States, we have no more certain means of doing so than supporting Lord P►LMERSTON. The United States journals teem with allusions to him. His tierce invec- 1183 tives, written and spoken, against Lord ASHBURTON are not forgotten. His strong anti-American prejudices are talked of from Boston to New Orleans—from Niagara to the Alleghany mountains. There is not now, nor has there been since the days of Lord NORTH, any English statesman so disliked and dis trusted in America as Lord PALMERSTON. Yet this is the man to whom the leadership of the Liberals of England is intrusted in such grave times. The characters of the statesmen of the reign of I ()els XVI. had a portentous influence in precipitating the French Revolution. In the same way, Lord PALMERSTON'S line of catching at ephemeral popularity, and his propensity to carry things by bluster, may yet be attended with fearful effects. A long war is the Premier's only chance of retaining power. Let peace be made, and he falls ; for he is unequal to deal ing with the class of domestic measures now demanded by the modern English public. He broke down in the Home-office; and we have Lord ABERDEEN'S revelation to Lord JOHN RUSSELL—that " PALMERSTON admitted " that the Foreign office was too much for "him." He never could enter upon the course of useful change and energetic prac tical reforms which both Conservatives and Liberals will ask for on the proclamation of peace ; and besides, on the cessation of war, Parliament would at once be subjected to the rule of " party ;" and the Whigs will never tolerate a Premier like the present for an hour longer than they can help. War, therefore, is the interest of the Prime Minister. All factious opposition is disarmed at such a time, and even a feeble Cabinet is endured out of deference to the Crown. " Any Ministry may float now," was the remark in private, last year, of one of the shrewdest and most experienced statesmen of the age. But this feeling may be carried too far, and the Whig aristocracy are beginning to think so. It is now no secret that vast efforts are being made to bring Lord JOHN RUSSELL back to the Cabinet. The mortification of the Bedford Whigs has long been notorious, and the arrogance of the Premier in dealing with some of their followers is too galling for Whig nerves. It is about this time of the year that Lord PALMERSTON and his foes generally commence their fights. The winter solstice seems to affect his political condition. Every Christ mas, for the last four or five years, has wit nessed some overt acts on his part. Some of his Whig friends, it is believed, are now pre paring to have a seasonable round game with him. A long war, in their opinion, is too heavy a forfeit to pay for having so " jolly" a Premier, and rather than do so the Whigs will demand, either that the Bedford clique should come " in," or Lord PALMERSTON go " out." The gentle wisdom of the venerable Lord LANSDOWNE will scarcely smooth down the asperities of their rival leadership. THE QUEEN OF SPAIN has conferred the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Ferdinand upon Marshal Pelissier. Marshal O'Donnel, in announcing this fact to the French Minister at Madrid, conveyed the desire of her Majesty to place a number of decora tions of the same Order at the disposal of the French Government for distribution to meritorious officers in the French army of the East. COUNT DE SERRES, the First Secretary to the French Embassy at Vienna, arrived there on the 7th instant from Paris. He was believed to be the bearer of a " favorable reply " to recent despatches of M. de Bourqueney. SIR HAMILTON SEIM:MR on Thursday last, in Com pany with the Hon. Mr. Elliott, paid his first visit to Count Buol. Their interview lasted about an hour. Sir Hamilton was said to have presented his creden tials to the Emperor of Austria on Tuesday last,. GF.NERAL CANROBF.RT on his arrival at Kiel is said to have held a serious consultation on board the French flagship with Admirals Penaud and Dundas, with reference to the combined operations or the fleet and land forces in the Baltic next year. So certain do the merchants of Stockholm and Copen hagen consider this movement, that they have already tendered for the victualling of the land force. M. YALDES, Chargé d'Affaires of Portugal at Co. penhagen, suddenly disappeared on the very day he had been a guest at the dinner given by the Court in honour of General Canrobert's arrival. His body ha.s been found in one of the canals of the city, and it is believed that he committed suicide in a fit of • mental aberration.