The Sun. — London, England, 1855-12-21 00:00:00

•••• -*,---• .. 4. ,c,,r,..C.-"•‘.. , L.- ----- • - , ( ; ( . -Z?le_-/L 2 -.-..t- --- 4` ' ' IPP' 44(4 ( - 6 3' - 7 -1 . ,:.•''' . , , , I ' f , e7---IC.-‘--46.-. !I I • - . , 41 111116‘ . -... ,F-W r ,.. ~ • •c•,,, , e,t1.4. . .. • .• ~.,i ic a,...t S . I ' 4 -t"- on - ir„ - '- • ;.' '::: i, A ~..--- i . • --.:-;--- 4,4 4- - 4- - ; , ..W' ~. .0 . ~.... ittoto-0: 4 4 . - 4: rti 3 0,.,.,.:. • , , t .•,... . . . ........ . .. . ,4-- , • , :,i, \ A ''''A" ' - ...." , y 4 ~., , ~,‘„,:. , . Fr , 04';‘, ~.,;- ' ' -,... ,••,‘ $• ~ iit.s.t r f 4 1 . , ... , 1.,) ,,, 't i' ' 4 ilk 6 , ,' . . . • I . \ , , ' ' I ' ! ~,,'., ~..r. ..,,, , 'l l :*t 4.4 •-•. c..... , --- ;irr------ °.. ' '" ---- --;v * • ,•. ' ' ,;,.t••• , - .),...,. , j ..-.:• • 4.--, , ~. ut, at the ,:..,,,:*-':,,,r .-, Jew; _,T, __- c r e ~i 4, cr, 1 / 415, , v.... cp . ..,,,,,_.,„, 2 , _!:.:,, ..,.. ~, 15 , 1.0 .,,..„ ...,,, t )i 1y . ,, , ,.. H, , ~ A I L , ;(,..,,.,,,., 441 , \ ... 3 ,•,.....*-c, „ ~,..e . . 4111W - z - * - I . N . ' ' _ - - • . w ,,.44,... , •. . —.....a:a55.1.11/1i iiOTAL, COVENT-GARDEN. 6 .413 ... i. .7)/ r , ~ , , , ~ ....., , i,,... ..1 , i t t,,l ..„.. ~. '''' 6 . l. Otr. ' *'' Cile ~,,,,, . . l ' "- '---.- . . IC «. note." This means, "I have not got\7o-1_ k • :.--- 1 inisy - II have not even cre dit ; I h ave not evess-s ,., any property which I can exchange for money." It jos._k.,, ,',-;21 1 110-......\'- ) very old case, a very intelligible case, a very cour i sm* s , - t5", t ,,d,6; :`!,i . spS V (---) case. We have no idea how it is to ba rki4cleed.7, - "445•:-.1 ..._,. 1 Mr. Salt roes not help us out of our difßculty..- We .-'l . s "g could name a hundred persons, each of whom we shauld.....) ' -- . be - be delighted to present with 1,0001. Will Mr. SO tpll! -, , ir-: how we could do this, unless we happened to. '' ' • - ' , % . ,,a , 10n 0001, t, spare of our own t We are quite aware that it is not a subject to be trifles' with. Few difficulties have stronger claims to our Ryas: pathy than those of merchants and manufacturers who having been induced by prosperoas time to embark in large ventures, suddenly find themselves stranded by in creasingth that ar iai ttroa dt,eiir prices slheor and failing Ili e f e a ev i e l w i rnhggeondbe beyond a oe n ne d dr . rho irs l h t d ae i s a p tbh, ean superfluouslydshou commit.l alwaystad; in oe , b e l , l yk t e l o t efp i X a ' d Oinss distress r y ffie steshi advicesufficient hp proportion hint w oar e tti li oi arnnv impossible s v hi e bi a n i of te n ec iapnidtai i ni befor e ndea. ready and convertible form. If it is unkind to make WS suggestion at this time of day, much more is it a mere Fcribable remedies. When a manufacturer finds him self wilout money to pay his workmen and his cre ditors Mr. Salt calls on the State to make money for him. How can it do so, except by a miracle f Indeed it is the State, as Mr. Salt himself notice s , t h at wants money most f all. The State wants twice as much as usual, and thereby greatly aggravates, if it does not wholly cause, the distress of the manufacturer! They both enter the money-market, the food-market, the iron and lead-market, the labour-market, the ship•market, and various other markets, and the State must have what it wants at any price, while the manufacturer goes to the wall. The former has unlimited means—that is, unlimited as against each individual trader, while the latter has only limited capital and limited credit. The S ate cannot pretend to give and take at the same time. It only takes, and is now taking at a most fearful rate. Vain, then, is it to expect that the State can give the trader the capital which Mr. Salt complains that he finds himself deprived of. Let that gentleman look at his own figures, and he will find that the State is now taking, he says, fifty millions a-year more than usual, while the circulation at the service of trade is reduced by some six or seven mil lions of gold, as many of notes, and doubtless a much larger quantity of private bills. Do not these two facts explain another ? It may not be an agreeable explana tion, but it is our business to tell truth—not to flatter ; least of all did we aver tell the British people that the war would conduce to their material prosperity. On the contrary, we know full well that there are martyrs in the Crimea and martyrs at home, and the latter are by far the most numerous and the most suffering of the two. Mr. SALT has sent us a second letter, which reads like a P.S. to the first, and accordingly lets out rather more. ETavug been reminded that the bank-note is only a pro mise to pay so many pounds, and that the act of Parla ment merely prescribes the weight of a pound sterling in gold, he admits that this is not price, but quantity. Yet he exclaims, "Hence the mystification and the fraud. The law birds us to pay our debts, not in an equivalent value of gold, but in a fixed quar tity." The law very properly binds us,—that is, every individua I end the State itself, to do what they promised to do. What, then, was the promise ? Was it to pay an " equivalent ?'' No such thing. Everybody, debtor and creditor, throughout the whole of these transactions was fully aware that the debts would be paid, not in an equivalent value of gold, but in a fixed quantity. Had the ruh'ic lender heard a whisper of an " equivalent," or any other hocus, he would not have advanced a six pence, except, perhaps, on a very much higher rate of interest. The understanding of the who'e nation was, that the debt would be paid in what was then meant by a pound sterling in gold. The course recommended by Mr. Salt under the pretence of straightforwardness and honesty would have falsified every pecuniary engage ment in the country. Mr. Salt has his eye chiefly to the c melts don of the late war, and his mean ing is that we ought then to have compounded with our creditors, and c )mpelled them to accept in full of alt demands as much gold as they might be supposed, on circulation, to have lent to the State. Fortunately, however, for the honour and prosperity of the nation that was not done, and now Mr. Salt wishes to supply the omission by the issue of a paper which shall prevent us front incurringa debt of this literal, exact, and onerous desciiption. This is to be an inconvertible legal tender paper. We have asked for some account of it again and again, to no purpose. But Mr. Salt now intimates very suspiciously that its purpose is to extinguish debt. What, then, can it be—the sponge? Not quite that. It is to extinguish debt on a reasonable estimate. Only think of it being left to every debtor in this country to pay just as much as he thinks it quite ne cessary to pay I What a delightfully philosophical not to say metaphysical interest it would impart to all pecuniary transactions ! With what ec- Stacy the partners in an insolvent bank would read a resolution passed by the House of Commons, "The valise of legal tender money is not special as is a dock warrant, but universal in its ministration to the great human necessity of cancelling debt." " The great human necessity" is felt very widely, and great would be the rejoicing at the issue of a paper to cancel it, not to pay it. But the rejoicing would be that which resounded day and night in the little kingdom described by Macau lay in the neighbouring Whitefriars, between us and the Temple. It would be the rejoicing of rope' and thieves who had escaped debt and justice, and cared neither for prison nor for censure. Whether Mr. Salt would rejoice or not when it came to that point we do net know, but no hone-t man would. MR,. ALBRRT SMITE'S MONT BLANC , HOLLA.IID, lIP THIS RHINE, and PARIS, Is now Open every evening (except Saturday), at 8 o'clock. Stalls (which can be taken from a plan at the box-office every day between 11 and 4, Without any extra charge), 3s. ; area, 2*. ; gallery, le. The Morning Representations take place every Tuesday, ( , Thursday, and z , aturclay, of 3 o'clock. Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. [PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD• happily the hue of editorial thoughts can change even as the cameleon's. In perfect anticipation of seeing you of another colour, and in its newest g:ose,—l am very respectfully yours, T. CLUTTON SALT. ARGYLL ROOMS.-LAURENT'S CASINO NOW OPEN for the winter season. Prin -ipal Cornet a Piston, M. Bouleourt.—Doors open at 8. Admission ine Laurent's new Varsoviana every night. Sir,—You question me so directly through your cor reApnndent Mr. Hill, that you bind me to answer arid yourself to insert the reply. So, unhappy Mr. Editor, it is your doom that I should still be your correspondent, and that this currency ghost, which you have so often laid, should still haunt your columns, making them hideous. _ _ THE NIGHTINGALE FUND.—It is intended to issue a Second Subscription List on Mooclay, the 2.th of December. Subscriptions will be received at a vof the bankers of London. the provinces, Ireland, and Scotland; and the Honorar , Secretaries will be obliged by being furnished with the na'nes of Stibseribers previous to the 22d December. SIDNEY HERBERT, 1 Hon. Secs, S. C. HALL, OUlee of the Nightingale Fund. 5, FAIT* neat-street, December 17. r Mr. Hill is right in his demonstration that if four so vereigns weigh an ounce, the price of gold will always be 41. an ounce, let the value of gold vary as it may. In all other cases price is the index of value ; in this case it ceases to be so, and only denotes quantity ; hence the mystification and the fraud. The law binds us to pay our debts, not in an equivalent value of gold, but in a fixed quantity. Let us see how it operates. We borrowed the bulk, of our national debt at 601. in paper money worth about 401. in gold, or 10 . 0 z. of gold to the 1001. stock. We are bound to pay 250 a., and to pay in value 74 per cent. interest for 3 per cent. we agreed to pay ; and, when John Bull renacnitrates against the wrong the callous usurer audaciously ex claims. " Why, John, are you going to cheat your cre dit3rs ?" and stupid, simple John agrees that the thing passes his understanding, and so the Reign of Fraud— the Reign of Fraud and Terror, is established. Mr. Hill says I have not pointed on: any way of con ferring a definite value on mere pieces of paint'. Mr. Hill has not read my letter. The value of legal tender paper is not special, as is a dock warrant, but uni versal in NI minibtratien to the great human necessity of cancelling debt, and therein has a valda perfectly in dependent of the law that makes it convertible into a fixed quantity of gold ; inconvertible legal tender minis tering t) an equal want will have an equal value. Its value as Igal tender will vary, like all other articles of prime necessity exactly in proportion to its abundance or scarcity ; and to regulate its value it is only neces sary to regulate its quantity, which the present law deranges. How to regulate the quantity we will see hereafter. Conversion of money into merchandise is barter. Con ♦ersion of money ire° any one particular article is a monopoly of barter, at variance with all sound principle, arid having the additional trifling objection that it is a physical impossibility to convert all debts into one article. LAST FEW DAYS. ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE. —THIS EVENING, and every evening during the week, the GRAND ELEUSINIAN SPECTACLE of MAGIC and MYSTERY, by Professor ANDERSON, the Great Wizard of the North, in 12 acts, with ever-changing variety of incidents, continuous surprises, novel and extraordinary effects, Magic and Mystery is an entirely new entertainment, pos. fuming distinctive characteristics and peculiar phases of amusement. It is not a monologue, for the audience them. 'elves perform their parts with the principal actor, some of them on the stage and others in front ; it is not an exhibition, for though everything becomes metamorphosed before the eyes of the visitors No one can be positive that he sees any one thing; but it is a comedy really performed by the eom luny ; a melodrama replete with startling positions and unex pected denouements ; a magnificent spectacle, with 2,000 of the public every night to appear as auxiliaries ; and an ex travaganza, in which all that scorns to be is entirely beyond the bounds of probability. Professor Anderson returns his thanks to thronged and fashionable audiences which have nightly filled the Lyceum Theatre to overflow, and by means of whose generous aid he has been enabled to announce Magic and Mystery for con tinuous repetition. He believes that no professor of his art has at any time or in any place been honoured with an amount of MOMS so extensive, so decided, and so unusual. Ffe would attribute that success to three causes ; first, that in his present entertainment he has placed before his visitors the results of a life sedulously devoted to the attainment of lerfected skill in one peculiar art, and to perfect which he has travelled the globe in every clime ; secondly, that he has *pared no trouble nor expense to put this entertainment on the stage in the most elaborate manner, by the employment of the first mechanicians and artists of the day ; and thirdly, that, while endeavouring to provide amusement for those Who honour him with their presence, he has not forgotten that it is possible to afford information also, and that the oppor tunity should not be neglected of exposing conjuring wher ever it has been used for nefarious purposes, or whenever by resorthig to the conjurer's arts, in an illegitimate manner, the designing have succeeded in making dupes of the oredulons. The only legitimate function of money is that it shall cancel debt ; the only qualification we can require in it is that it shall be cf steadfast value. Legal tender money regulated in quantity is payment of just value, and net a promise to pay. Forty years of alternate speculation and ruin, 40 years of torture under the effect of the Bank screw, have surely de nonstrated beyond dispute that the issue or the withdrawal of legal tender money increases or diminishes the employment of labour, raises or reduces demand and the general range of prices. I myself am weary of what Lord Liverpool was pleased to call the stern path of duty. Listen, most gracious Editor, to your amiable enthusiast. Let us boil our peas finish our pilgrimage in comfort. The regulation of our system by the exchange gives us no timely warning ; the train of miechief is all laid be fore it is possible to detect it ; there is no escape from the explosion ; the withdrawal of the paper money simultaneously with the gold money is a double curse, and it comes like remorse, that punishes, but does not prevent our errors. I do know a better standard than gold ; for the pre sent I will only cs,mply with Mr. Hill's wish, and point out a better applieati ,n of the gold standard. The 937 letters on the subject of spirit-rapping, which Pro fessor Anderson has received, from the time of opening the •heatre up to the present date, bear witness to the great in terest taken on the subject of this singular delusion ; whilst Many of them bear melancholy evidence to the dangers which ttend a belief in the superstitious nonsense of the " Spiri tualists." Judging simply by the correspondence which has resulted Professor Anderson's exposé of spirit-rapping and Lis illustration of the so-called table phenomena, have pro duced a sensation unequalled by any previous attempt to ex- I ose a mischievous and impudent juggle. It is impossible for Professor Anderson to reply at length to a tithe of the communications which reach him on the subject. He regret. that many of these should come from ladies and gentlemen who, from their position in society and their well-known in tellectual attainments, he would least have expected to have 1 een converts to a belief so preposterous in itself, and so asily susceptible of being controverted and disproved. Every evening, from the Lyceum stage, Mr. Anderson's opinions oe pirit-rapping are expressed, and every evening, within th• Lyceum, how tables can be made to rap is exhibited cmd elucidated. It is respectfully requested that this I üblie exposition will be accepted generally as Professor Anderson's only mode of replying at full length to his Multitudinous correspondents. He regrets that the tames of the great and learned of the land should have been made to figure in the documents emanating from the spirit-rappers, as for instance the following, ex tracted from the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, Septem ber 20, and taken by that journal from the New York Spiri tual Telegraph. It purports to emanate from an American , pirit-rapper, Mr. D. D. Hume :—" Sir David Brewster frankly confesses that he is sorely puzzled' at what he has witnessed, and Lord Brougham acknowledges himself to be thoroughly nonplussed. Both of these noted men brought the whole force of their keen discernment to bear upon the solution of the phenomena; but the presence of substantial, actual hands, and the demonstrative strength of the spirits who thus clothed themselves for the time, and moved mate rial objects about the room, proved to be too much of a ques lion for them to master." Mr. D. D. Hume, the author of the above, has recently left England, and the following account of who, and what he is, occurs in the Family Herald, No. 648: This young man, who is a Scotchman by birth, and now in Italy, is a remarkable medium for all the manifestations without apparatus. Barnum, who is well-known throughout e Anglo-Saxon world as a splendid humbug, offeredhim 2,000 dollars per annum if he would perform at his museum in New York. Barnum then took it for granted that mediums could be bought. He was somewhat astonished when his offer was refused. Hume, on telling the fact in London lately, simply and honestly remarked, that the money would have been very acceptable to him, for he was poor, young (under 20), an or- Phan, and in very bad health : but he would have been afraid of losing his power as a medium, and he would sooner lose Lis life. The - refusal, however, made Barnum thoughtful. Ile inquired into the subject; and now Barnum, one of the greatest humbugs in the world, and withal a conjuror, is une of the firmest believers in spiritualism." It is cer tainly surprising to find such a paragraph as this in the editorial article of au established journal, the oditor of whom might be supposed to be sane. Even if Barnum does believe in spirit-rapping -- does spirit-rapping gain or lose by this accession to its adherents ? and, with Barnum 's endorse. went to it, is this bill, drawn on public credulity, more likely to be negotiated I Professor Anderson would believe not ; but, when he finds that educated clergymen of the Church of England have the temerity to subscribe their names to so gross tt swindle, when he finds that the incumbent of Wortley (the Rev. N. J. Godfrey) positively asserts his belief in it, and writes a book on the subject, he considers it to be time for Lira to state that which he knows of the mechanism by which it is effected, and the mischief to which it tends. In the Aforning Advertiser of October 5 appears a letter from Sir Dayld Brewster, relative to that which he saw at Cox's Hotel, in company with Lord Brougham. He distinctly states that which the Wizard of the North proclaims every night—that spirit-rapping is nothing more than conjuring applied to bad Purposes. In the Morning Advertiser of the following day, however, there is an answer to Sir David's letter from one Who was present when he and Lord Brougham had their seance with the spirits, in which the writer says, that " the Wale (a large dinner-table, I believe) moved about in the most extraordinary manner, and, among other things, a large ac cordion was conveyed by an invisible agency to my hand and then to Lord Brougham's, in which, held by his lordship's right hand, apart from any person, it played an air through. With such a statement, printed for the edification of the people of the 19th century, with the facts before us that the mast talented men of the day are permitting themselves to ho deluded by these juggling spirit-mongers—that the greatest novelist of the age is now engaged in making it the 'subject of a new work, and that a " spiritual convention" Las actually been advertised to be held in St. Martin's-hall, Professor Anderson trusts that his exposures of the spiritual ists of America, as given by him nightly at the Lyceum, will be received by the people of England as genuine honest at tempts to provide an antidote for the bane of the spiritual Deprive gold of its monopoly as a sole ultimate legal tender, add thereby restore it to its natural value ; cease to use it as a coin, and then it may serve as a point of comparison for your legal tenJer paper. Its rise or fall in price, other things equal, will instantly indicate the rise and fill in your legal tender paper, before a general rise in prices has stimulated general importations and turned the balance of trade against us ; there will then be no great premium on the exportation of gold, and if it is exported it will not in the least degree disturb our monetary system. I do not now pretend to fix what price of gold will be a just standard. I assume—that in any case the standard must be made subservient to life and happiness, and that life and happi ness must not be sacrificed to the standard ; That a limited issue of legal tender paper will sustain its value, and that a sufficient issue will insure the full employment of labour, creating the greatest amount of national wealth, and will also cause the greatest amount of national happiness, by its just distribution ; That•it will sustain a regular range of prices propor tionate to the cost of production securing honest indus try from oppression, and limiting insolvency to folly and ♦ice. _ . 14,ppen what_ willjactilLtmployment of labour must be secured; this is at once the first duty, the first right, and the keystone of social order. I have assumed these things as self-evident axioms ; if you can throw a doubt on them I am perfectly ready to inflict on you the tediousness of demonstration. The public will not read a long letter, and your space forbids one, or I could show in the regulated develop ment of industrial power a dawn of hope brighter than your imagination dreams of ; for the present the Bank continues to lose its gold and withdraw its paper—usury triumphs, and industry languishes. Can you tell me how far 18 millions of Bank issue is from panic point, and how near you will have the hardihood to approach is ? Will the Government want a loan of 26 millions ou of this remnant of circulation (From the Morning 1:1 erald.) We should scarcely deem it necessary to direot the attention of our readers to the anonymous correspon dence of a daily journal were it not put forth to the world with great pomposity as coming from " a high financial authority." Under the signature of " Mercator " the Time 3 has heralded forth to the world what it is pleased to designate " a few simple truths on the currency." We have already referred to " Mercator's" letter, but as the writer has put forward several of the gravest fal 'soles, and interwoven them with the most ingenious sophistry, we shall spin revert to the document. Let us first examine the point from which " Mercator" starts, and if his position can be established in this re spect all further argument would be perfectly useless. The responsibility of the Times is great in proportion to its influence. It cannot think on these matters too deeply.—l am, Sir, very respectfully yours, THOMAS CLINTON SALT. In the first place he denies that our trade and com merce are carried on by means of paper money, or its circulation. If this were true what utility can we assign to the Bank of England itself ! In the next place we are informed by this "high authority" that trade and commerce are carried on only by means of capital, a word in which the supporters of the Peel currency theory delight to mystify every argu ment they advance. If " Mercator" means that trade and commerce cannot be conducted without the exist ence of capital, in the form of gold bullion, then was there never a greater fallacy enunciated ; for the asser tini is contradicted by the transactions of daily life. Is the circulation of 38 millions of paper currency in the United Kingdom only a myth, or a mere phantom, existing only in the brain of some deluded fanatic ! Surely men who deal in bank-notes are not all dreamers, as "Mercator" would have us believe them to be. We con fess ourselves to be autongst those who believe the issues of bank-notes to he a veritable fact. We take them to be a part and parcel of the currency of the country, and essential to our existence as a commercial, a trading, and a tax-paying people. We maintain that the Crowe alone should have the right to grant these issues, on terms which should be male general throighout the country. The sovereign right of the State to control the issue of notes should be exercieed with as much autho rity as tee right to superintend the coinage at the Mint ; the demands of the public being limited only by such restrictions as the Legislature might deem neces sary to enforce upon all who are engaged in the business of banking, upon the ieeue of such notes. " Mercator," like all those of the same school, is hor rified at the supposed violation of the promise to pay, and considers that without the Act of 1£44 it would be a lucre empty an d unsu b s t an ti a l form of words. But what is this p rom i se , as it now stands ? . Is the security ecurit t ro The Bank can y equal to the promise ? Certainly 'e only pay in gold by suff er ance, and not on absolute me• tallie security. The greatpoint for the country to con eider is e whether, dneitted the issue of 14,000,000/, of promises to pay, h"i"a hout a single grain of gold to re deem them, that law shall remain irrevocable. eleecator " consoles himself in the belief that " the prosperity and progreee of a state are made by the laws , of nature. But we believe that this doctrine is held by nme but these who have placed themselves in a position far above nature's demands. To the working of nature's laws he compares the circulation under th e A c t o f 1844 , which he says is made by that act to " depend on the free and unfettered course of the community in regard to their trading operations. If they bring in geld, they in: crease the circulation ; if they take out geld they dimi nish it. In this respect they are properly free agents ; neither law nor authority interferes with them, and thus the regulation of the amount of the currency is strictly in the hands of the public. This is sound and legitimate free trade in currency." Having made this announce• meat, " Mercator" inquires, with the most perfect sang froid, whether an act which thus provides for the circus lating medium can be called " arbitrary" or " inelastic.' Those who seek for an amendment of our currency laws will not be carried away by such subtle and inge nious arguments as "Mercator" has put forth in the columns of the Times. Their object must be to reduce the system to something like simplicity, by sweeping away the strange anomalies that exist. The present fa vourable moment lost, and the monopoly of the money power will rear its head with redoubled force. Already is it exercising a most dangerous influence in the state. " Mercator" asserts in the most audacious manner that the circulation is entirely in the hands of the country.; ttl Was ever statement put forward that had so li e truth to supp ort i t I Did the coun try decide upon allow ing the Bank of England to issue 14,000,000/. upon a debt to l en d out at i nteres t, while it received at the same time int eres t upon th a t e Was it the will of the country that placed a limditetbot the circulation of all banks of issue, and prohibited the establishment of any new banks throughout the country, except such as should use Bank of England notes ! Was it the will of the country that the Bank of England should have conferred u p on privileges, :ncompatible with the int erests of it exclusive the couetry ? These arc all questions that must b e re plied to in the negative. It is true that the Bank co rporation has been eucceseful hithert o i n securing to itself these extraordinary and exclusive privileges ; but is the continuance of them in accordance with the progress and spirit of the age in which we live ! We are amongst the most strenuous advocates for allowing the Bank of England to retain the high character and position it has so long maintained as a great national establishment; but we cannot allow ourselves to be de ceived by such fallacies as " Mercator" has gilded over with his accustomed ingenuity ; and we feel persuade d that the Bank, as a c orporate body, w i ll f i n d t h e interests of its proprietary rendered far more secure by yielding to (From the Times.) Mr. Salt, in the two letters which we published else where, has not answered our challenge to show us the formula for his own bank-note, or legal tender paper, as he chooses to call it. In fact the callenge has never yet met with a plain, intelligible, and straightforward reply. Such a bank-note as he means is an imagination of the same character as that " perpetual motion" which an average number of half.crazy people are daily hunt ing after. In the ingenious machines constructed for this purpose the weight is to be always exerting its gravity, yet never losing its elevation ; the spring is to be always moving the wheels, yet never uncoiling ; the ball is to be always rolling down, yet never effecting an actual descent. The bank-note of Mr. Salt and his school is to be always obtaining its value, yet never to be spent. The fortunate possessor is to be always " eating his cake," and nevertheless " having it." When a cat has eaten a mouse it will still go about looking for it. Mr. Salt's banknote is to bear being eaten over and over again for ever. Fortunatus is always to find it at the bottom of his purse. He spends it one day on a dinner, the next day on a goat, the next day in wages, the next day in paying an old debt, but there it still is. Like the golden twig of the Sybil, if you pluck it, another immediately appears in its place, of equal glitter and virtue. Like the dogstealer's pet spaniel, it invariably comes back, and is sold next to a fresh customer. Such is the nature of this note, which may, for aught we know exit in fairyland, but has never yet been even described or conceived in this waking world with any degree of distinctness. It is a nondescript in the strictest sense of that word, for even they who affirm the possibility of the thing do not commit themselves to a particular account of it. What we want is the legend. At present we are asked to give up a thing we know for something which does not exist, even in the imagination of its advocates, except in the most uncertain and nebulous form. There can be no com parison between a thing which is and a thing which is not, and which is not even placed within the reach of mortal faculties. In all processes of reasoning the first act, logicians tell us, is apprehension. When Mr. Salt has caught his legal tender paper, apprehended it, and laid it open to our understanding, in any form what ever, then it will be time to institute a comparison be tween it ansl the existing entity that we call a Bank of England note. answerl at' neth e withr q mueuscthion vi ßut, having evad e d th e c h a ll enge t o t e ll us what he wants, nse s t /S Mr. . Sal matter with the b an k no t e I" Why, it is gone !" says Mr. Salt. " Th at i s the mat t er , a nd a pretty consider ablep matter teo, seeing our debts are not gone with bins assumed —. triumph, pro , ' Whati it." To th e same e ff ec t, when We "I recommend promise to ascertain th e mea ning to o f "the words, the Bank of to pay 5/. o n d em and," by going England a n d getting five " I have not got the note ; hence my y nt instead of the sovergnsr,iefh:e, replies,Avast quantity of gold has left the cou t p y rOp a er aneouut by substitution of the paper mooney, a, the Bank of England the circulation being kept up t o f notes as much as 6 , 000 , 000 /. Even of this diminished s issue of notes, observes Mr. l number are locked up by 800 has reduced its issues Salt a more than usu al banks, thus Yet we are paying double taxes. This farther diminishing the quantity actually in circulation. b d deplorable enough, but Mr. Salt himself enoug h, an accoun t of t e present state of:things may be true does not recom mend that the Bank of England should pre scribe the remedy. He does not even ex pressly at liberty to issue as many notes as it pleases, with out any regard to the quantity of gold in its vaults. He does not say that he would be satisfied with a re peal of the Banking Acts of 1844, 1845. Re simply attacks the existing state of things, which is alweys easy to do. Had he demanded a return to the state of things before 1844, we might have asked what it wag that created a necessity for the change. Mr. Salt knows full well that the circulation of the Bank of Eng land notes fell even lower on several recent occasions be fore 1844 than it has since. Nor can he doubt that, even if the Bank were quite at liberty to issue as many notes as it pleased, with its increased experience, it would not be likely to exceed its present limits. It would still be possessed with a wholesome fear of "runs," and would therefore be far from satisfying all the gentlemen who might find themselves with wages and debts to pay and no money to pay them with. Then, if Mr. Salt care fully abstains' from suggesting the remedy, his complaint merely comes to that very old and very ordinary one — a want of money. it is comprised in the words, "I balers. La the course of the last five weeks 100,017 persons have visited the Lyceum Theatre,—a larger number, it is believed, than has ever before been assembled within its walls in so short a period. Magic and Mystery is repeated every even. ins, the programme being continually changed. Grand fashionable Day Performance, or Saturday , December 22, at 2 o'clock ; the programme being thus arranged ; Part 1. —Act 1. The Mesmeric Couch : or, the Clinics' Cepabliities of the Atmosphere : in which the Wizard will do by magic that which some suppose to be effected by mesmer ism, and illustrate the possibility of sleeping unsupported in tint air. Act 2. The Aqua-lvial Paradox ; exemplifying the power of producing animated nature from fire and water only, and the possibility of eliciting from the simplest elements the most complex forms of ornithological existence. 3. Le Livre des Reeueils Choisies : or, Puck's Own P oc ket Book, with Puck himself withi n it. Typifying the evening's entertainment in the production of the very volu minous from a small volume, in the extraction of magnitude out of minuteness, in developing bulk where no space appears for its existence, in discovering odd things in add places, and In "bringing forth unexpected wonders from the most unlikely plasse for to be found. A.ot 4. Magical Lannrantinn nr, Transition without Trou Me, In which will be comprised—the Adventures of a Wed ding' Ring, the Peregrinations of a Bank Note, the Transfor mation—blask into white, and the Discovery of every Article in the position which would seem the most inappropriate. Aois 5. L'Ecrin do Verre; or ' the Casket of Crcesus. Into wL deb, though made entirely of glass perfectly transparent, any I suspended so as to be visible to the eyes of all present, the Wizard will cause the money of his visitors to transport itvielf, and rain into the casket, though its lid be closed, lot :ked, and the key in the possession of the audience. _ Act 6. Clairvoyance Extraordinary ; or, the Transparency of Opacity. Act. 7. A Now Bottle of Bacchus ; or , the Novel Wine and Spirit Store. An improvement upon the " inexhaustible battle," inasmuch as the Wizard's bottle will net only be in exi,:austible, but will change its contents, ad infinitum, at the ward of command, producing soda-water, butter-milk, Ehmonn salts, Port, Sherry, brandy, gin, rum, whisky, noyean, or any other wine or spirit requiredfinally proving to be filled with pocket handkerchiefs perfectly 4 1 7, said occupying the whole space when tightly packed. Act 8. Half an Hour with the Spirits Expose of s e r i r it-rapping. Introducing the spirit-rapping table and *eosin of the invisible& Act. 9. Grand Mystic Amalgam, in which the property of Om) Wizard's patrons will undergo some strange metamor pkoees, and, amongst others, their handkerchiefs become t ra nsformed into the flags of victory—the banners of Eng wid, France, Turkey, and Sardinia. JA.c . 10. The Enchanted Chair of Comus, in which he who stints himself will be under the magic spell, and appear to the audience, under circumstances least expected, in a posi t.), as peculiar as perplexing. Act. 11. Th e M y ster y of the Charmed Chest ; or, the S-ucleus of the Night's Wonders. To comprehend which the :Audience will have the goodness to observe, in an earlier part se the evening, the chest suspended (like Mahommed's coffin) in mid-air, into which all things will travel, and out of which a n will be produced. nAt. 12. The Hoziological Evaporation ; or, the Sht.test Itouto to the Antipodes. Illustrating the easiest mode of zi ddina our'elvcs of a troublesome friend, and the advantages of the newly-discovered dia-terrestrial passage from the west ern to the eastern hemisphere. Doors open each evening at half-past 7 ; commence a t 8. Private boxes, 11. 118 . 6 d. a nd 1/. ls., t• be obtained at the B ox-office, or at the principal libraries ; stalls, 4s. ; dress nc c i rc le, as. ; upper boxes , 2s. ; pit, ls. ; ga les the direction.llery, 6d, The liter-office is open daily, fro m 11 till 5, u ei p Mr. Chattorton, jun. Grand fashionable Morning Per .rmanci on FetstrdAy, December 2-2, at 2 o'clock. Doors open til ;halt - past 1. No. 19,725.] LOAN. --The NEW RIVER COMPANY are prepared to receive TENDERS for SUMS of MONEY (raised the provisions and requirements of their acts of 1852 and under 1"54) on Bonds of not less thalf 500/., for three, five, or seven years at 44, per cent Interest, pay ble half-ye , rly. Further information may be obtained, if required, of the under signed, at the yew flyer Office, New River Head, Clerkenwell, be t ween the hours of Ten and Four, to whom Tenders are to be addressed for the Directors. By or ier. FRED. INGLIS, Clerk. New River Office, Nov. 30, 1855. PUBLICATIONS. NEW NOVEL. Just ready, la 3 vols., post Bvo., LAU R A A NOVEL. GA Y . Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough-street. CHRISTMAS PRESENT. New and Revised Edition, 10s. 6d., bound, SAL ATHIEL THE IMMORTAL. By the Rev. GEORGE C ROLY, LL.D. " One of the most splendid productions among works of fiction tat the Age bas brought forth."—Athenzeum. llurst and Blackett, Publishers, successors to Henry Colburn. THE NEW NOVEL. Now ready at all the libraries, in 3 Vols., THE HOUSE OF ELMORE. A FAMILY HISTORY. " A splendid production. The story is worked out in a succession of powerful portraitures and of soul-stirring scenes."—John " This work displays unusual talent. It is a striking and original story."—Sun. _ . " A novel of no ordinary power and attraction. It will enjoy a wide-spread popularity."—Observer. Burst and Blackett, publishers, succoesors to Henry Colburn. EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY COMPANY. On the Roth December,' THE CHAIRMAN'S ANSWER to the IMPORT of the COMMITTEE of INVESTIGATION. London : published by W. S. Johnston, 60, St. Martin's-lane. To be had of W. H. Smith and Son, Strand ; and at all the railway stations. T HE POSTMAN'S KNOCK. New Song. By W. T. WRIGHTMAN. Finely - Illustrated in colours. 2s. 6d. One of the mast truly joyous melo.iiea that ever emanated from a light heart and facile fingers. It runs trippingly on, like the wing footed Mercury of the Post Office, startling one at every interval with that fancy-stirring smart rat-tat: one literally looks for a letter as one listens to the song. Another recommendation is, that every body can sing it. In short, it is just the song for the lively parties ot the season." N.B.—The POST %lAN'S KNOCK QUADRILLES. By STZPILEN G LOVNa. PlllllO, 35.; Duets, 4a. London : Robert Cocks and Co., New Burlington-street, Music Publishers to their Majesties Queen Victoria and the Emperor Napoleon 111., and o , all Musicsellers, Now publishing, in 2,600 pages Imperial Octavo, price Us., THE POST OFFICE LONDON DIREC- L TORY FOR 1856.—Most gratifying Reviews of the huge volume have appeared in all the leading Metropo litan Journals, of which only very short extracts can be here quoted. _ _ _ " In short, this work contains all that can reasonably be required in a Directory, and much more, probably, than was ever found in one before. It may be safely referred to for information upon everything connected with the metropolis and the elements whichconsiitute its wealth and importaliee." —Timer?, Dec. 8, 1855. The Post Office London Directory is indeed a triumph of energy, enterprise, and combined talents of many orders, to which, upon reflection, every one will be ready to assign tho merit it deserves."—Morning Advertiser, Nov. 12, 1855. " There has been competition, but it has passed away ; for the Post Office Directory has been too carefully and soda lowly edited, too prompt in its intelligence, too simple in its plan, and too judicious in its classifications, to admit of suc cessful rivalry."—Morning Herald, Nov. 12, 1855. "An indispensable necessity, not only in the counting houses of the mercantile part of the community, but also iu the halls of the great and fashionable."—Morning Chronicle, Nov. 16, 1855. - " The Post-Office Directory' has made its appeat anee this year without a rival in the field ; but the absence of compe tition does not appear to have led the publishers to bestow less care upon the preparation of the work."—Morning Post, Nov. 30, 1855. In a metropolis so vast as London a correct guide is in valuable, and this book, dealing not only with the commer cial classes, but with all the residents in London, supplies a daily need."• -Daily News, Dec. 17, 1855. " A wonderful work, becoming every successive year more and more wonderful—altogether the hugest and the most accurate of all our popular compilations--at once official, com- mercial, post legal, political, and topographical !"—Sun, Nov. 10, BM. " On the whole, the extent and quality of the information contained in the volume has, as far as we know, never been equalled in a publication of the kind."—Globe, Nov. 15, 1855. " The Post Office London Directory —The annual wonder, the title of which we have prefixed, has just appeared, and, _ . . on the present occasion, it has appeared without a rival, hav ing in this year driven every competitor from the field. Even . . they who, like ourselves, dislike monopoly, acknowledge the justice of monopoly fairly won by decided excollence."—Stan- _ lard, NOT. 16,1855. " The fame of Kelly's London Directory is too well esta- blished, its pretensions to what it professes too thoroughly justified, and its comprehensiveness too immense, to admit of any other consequence than disastrous loss to the speculator who would blindly hope to supplant it."—Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Nov. 23, 1855. " Even as there is no city in the world which can compare with the metropolis as the abode of aristocracy and com merce, so it is equally beyond dispute that there is but one Directory.' "—Church and State Gazette, Nov. 16, 1855. " The whole work exhibits a mass of accurate information that is truly wonderful to contemplate."--Atlaa, November 17, 1855. "There " is an old joke about the man who sat down pa tiently to read through a dictionary, and complained of the variety of its subjects. What would ho have said to the ' Post Office Directory of 1856,' with its pregnant line about everybody, every trade, every profession, and every idler in this huge wen of mortality who can write himself down re spectable !"—Bell's Weekly Messenger, Nov. 17, 1855. " If any one would really understand in what consists the strength of London, let him study the Post Office Directory.' " —Britannia, November 17, 1855. " The opponent of the production before us has ceased to exist, it appearing that, even after the collection of the infor mation for next year, and the work being in type, the sale would be insufficient to repay the mere exponset•of printing. The Post Office Directory' is now alone in the field, but we are glad to see that the exertions of the proprietors are undiminished." - -Court Journal, November 17, 1855. " The Post Office Directory' has become a work of na tional importance. It has been said we could not afford to lose our liMes the same observation applies to our Post Office Directory.' "—Herapath's Journal, Nov. 17, 1855. " The proprietors of this work have now the field to them selves ; but that they have not relaxed in their exertions on that account is fully evident from the completeness of the Directory for the coming year."—lllustrated London Kew, November 17, 1855. " Still swelling its dimensions as the ever-increasing area of the vast metropolis increases, this bulky volume presents itself as an annual visitor on our library table."—John Bull November 17, 1855. " In noticing in all its details, in the most isvourable man ner, this valuable and highly successful volume, we may casually remark that the year 185 i will witness its publica tion unopposed by attempted competition—a work of similar ch..racter, though by no means equal in correctness of ar rangement and detail, having, after an ephemeral existence, entailing enormous loss to its projectors, been at length aban doned. This was a result which, we think, might have been easily foreseen ; for it appears to ns beyond question that the sale of so exclusive and peculiar a work as the London Di rectory will never repay the expense of preparing two such publications, which, if accurate, must be counterparts of each other." —Mining Journal, November 17, 1855. " E tent, variety, and accuracy of information, so far as we have had occasion to test it, 's not the only feature of the book. Its production is a typographical curiosity."— Spectator, November 17, 1855. " This wonderful volume is a proof that the work of orga nisation and administration can be performed by Englishmen with such admirable completeness as to amount to perfection itself. Kelly's Directory was always unrivalled, but it is now without a competitor, and we never expect to see another enter the lists."—Era, November 18, 1855. " The Post Office London Directory for the year 1856, a copy of which we have just received, is certainly one of the literary phenomena of the age. For an increase in its bulk we have no wish. It is now a gigantic tome, although its style of binding renders it easy of use."—Sunday Times, November, 18, 1855. "The fine map that accompanies it erelseseee en increased 111• Alt. , grid ooncnclorablo auditions have bean made to the book. It enjoys a deserved reputation never achieved by any work of its class, and London may be proud of its standard di rectory."— Weekly Times, November 18, 1855. " Every householder in London, whether in trade, and every person belonging to any profession, or employed in the service of the Crown, has an opportunity of testing for him self the accuracy of the work, and we believe that the result of their inquiry will lead them to concur with us in the opinion that the Post Office Directory is one of the marvels of the present age."—Observer, November 19, 1855. " We can conceive of no better representation of the super fides as there is certainly no better guide to the co ntents of London than the Directory just named, now the only publica tion of the triad."—Nonconformist, Nov. 21, 1855. "As we, in common with most people, prophesied would happen, so it has come to pass. The rival Directory has given up a battle in which victory was scarcely to be won. But what of the future of this wonderful book i As it lies on its side it stands already some two hands high, and to spread out the map implies the covering of an ordinary table." — Examiner, November 24, 1855. " Since last year, a fruitless attempt to establish a second roompr established ofit f ; o r an a d r i at v bh a oi l s, w p. ouhrbk, half c o a f at t i o h en i e s nht m aus a i London Directory' has b een w i se l y a b an d one d. Th ere is no 7 g th n .,e iLu p d lr e estite be ip. i a n er g yo p f uhbalivsihnegd been vember 24, 1855, Gazette, No- It is a wonderful achievement, however we regard it, and its daily and hourly utility alone is sufficient to recommend it to every hotel, office, shop, and place of business." — Weekly Dispatch, November 25, 1855. " We have tested the lateness of the period up to which it has been corrected, by referring to changes within our own knowledge, and wo are bound to say that in every case we have found that the Directory has recorded the change, al though some of them have been of very recent occurrence." —Leader, December 1, 1855. " Any commendation on our part of this invaluable and universaliy-known volume would be utterly superfluous. The accuracy, fulness, clear and careful printiur; are beyond and it thoroughly deserves the monopoly it has A large and excellent map of London is prefixed , all aaedhd p i en r v a ge i praise ; no . 0 t a little to its general usefulness."— Economist, December 8, 1855. " The attempt to establish a rival Directory, though pro secuted with great enterprise, has failed. The undertaking was a hopeless, almost an impossible, one. Publications of this magnitude can rarely be produced at a start— they re quire years for their growth and development."—Press, De cember 8, 1355. Kelly and Co., 19, 20, and 21, Old Boswell-court ; and all Doluellers. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 21, 1855. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.—The Directors hereby Give Notice that they will receive Money on Loan, to pay off De>entares falling due, and are prepared to accept Tenders for tite same for a period of 2,6, or 7 years, at 5 per cent. per annum. Application may be made to the undersigned. By order of the Directors. CHAS. A. SAUNDERS, Secretary. Paddington Station, 2d November, 1855. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.- CII MAT WAS HOLIDAYS —On MONDAY, 24th December, a Cheap Excursion Train will leave Paddington at 6.30 p to., for Bristol and Bath, returning on Wednehday, 2ith December. from Bristol, at 7 ant , and Bath at 730 a.m. Fares there and b .ck lOs. aid 68 , and Bath, 9s. and ss. No luggage beyond a carpet bag allowed. Tickets not transferable. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.- CIIRISTNTAS HOLIDAYS. Return Tickets issued on Saturday, Dec. 22d, and three following day., will be available up to Weinegday, the 26th, inclusive. On the Bristol and Exeter and South Devon Lines Return Tickets are not available on Sundays. The Tra'ni on Christina. Day will run as on rundays, with the addition of the down day mail from Paddington to Bri tot at 10a m., and tne up day Mall from Bristol to Paddington at 10 a.m., which will run as on week days, with the exception of the branch trains between Maidenhead and Wycombe, Heading and Basingstoke, Chippenham, Frome, and Warminster, Gloucester and Hereford, and over the South Wales Line. tjONDON and NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY. —CEIRIiT NIAB HOLIDAY/3.-I)AT Tlciurrs Issued on Saturday, December 22, and Intervening days, will be amiable until Wednesday, December 26. By order, General Manager's Office, Euston- Station, Dec., 1855. MIRK LICISEI. LONDON and NORTH-WESTERN and MID- L kNI) RAILWAYS.—CEIRISTMAS 110,11),!..13.—1era5T and AIiCOND CLASS DAT TIMMS will be bated Aim the Luton- Station, London, to ~,, Ltn^o'n lewdham Normanton Coßingham Nottingham Oak enshaw Newark York Doncaster Fiskerton Bradford Sheffield, and Thurgerton Leeds Masboro', By the ordinary trains on Saturday, Dec. 22, Sunday, 23, Monday, 24, and Tuesday, 25, available for return with by the ordinary trains up to and including Wednesday, Dec. 26. Express day tickets will also be be ied on the same days, available to e a t ; tickets by anywilciu di n above g the 2 6 h pstations to London. train ial a b p e t z (L uzo and fromiu th e By order. r General Manager's Office, I uston-station, 1855. Gr l T h tr a ß ß E sthwei h ll onour oEW r n the 2Gth. The subjects to It o IC N G announce 4 ° E T t ii a t t r A T N C W I U N O m N E will be, Ist, The Hunter's Troop of Sixteen Horses attacked by Five Lions, peintod by Harrison Weir ; 2d, A View of the River Limpopo, with large Herd of Hippopotami, by Richard Leitch.-222, Piccadilly. —Children half price in the reserved seats and stalls. An Extra Morning Entertainment at Three o'clock on Boxing Day. 11 R. HOWARD, Surgeon-Dentist, 52, Fleet street, has introduced an entirely new description of ARTI :ICIAL TEETH, fixed without springs, wires, or ligatures. They so erfeetly resemble the natural teeth as not to be distinguished from he original by the closest observer; they will never change colour or , ecay, and will be found very superior to any teeth ever before used. this method does not require the extraction of rests, or any painful , peration, and will support and preserve teeth that are loose, and is ueranteed to restore articulation and mastication. Decayed teeth entered sound and useful in mastication.--52, Fleet-street. At , ome from ten till fire. Che Third E published, price 51., by pelt, free ss. 6d. N TRUE Az FALSE SPERMATORRIRE.A, with the View of distinguishing the Imaginary from the 'teal "offerers colder this disease, and C Trectime of wide-spread .:rrors in relation to their Treatment and Cure. From The German Dr. PIC:K.I , ORJ). With an Intro'Mutton by the Edlter, containing a complete exposure of the system of terrorism and extortion pursued the advertising quacks of the metropolis towards those who are credulous enough to seek their aid. " Dr. eickford 's knoe n to English readers by his frequent practi .l contributions to Getman medical literature. This is the timid me, he informs as, that he has addressed himself to the nos-medf ,.l reader. We trust this may not be the last, if he shall letect any cher equally da,cmant evil which it may he in his p wsr to cor set." —London Mel los] Gazette. " The tribe of Quiet Sympathisers,' ad •idedies.l Friends,' are mercilessly exposed; sad if this book :mid find Its ve,y into the hands of those who stiffer from the com- Joint of which It treats, we are satisfied that many hundreds would ,e saved much needless suffering of body and mind, and what is of ;as importance, though it is that which the quacks most prize— ouch meney......This volume is well qualified to put an end to the empirical system of treating Spermatorrhcea, and to plaea:the treat lent upon a more rational and physiological basis. It Is, therefore, tikely to do mach good." London: 11. Ranier% 219, Regent-street. without the suffering and humiliation of vast in solvency ; to watch with sleepless vigilance the condition► of the gold in the Bank coffers, to be racked by hope and fear if the arrivals from Aus tralia be delayed a week ; to be agonised by an east wind. All because we persist in staking our existence on the possession of gold, and at the same time in supporting a law that renders it impossible we should permanently retain it. I say the law prevents the possibility of our keeping possession of the gold. Gold money and paper money will not for any length of time circulate together at equal values. There are two distinct values in the coin—the legal tender value and the metallic value, and these do not coincile, but vary inversely to each other. Thus, supposing a large quantity of metal to be taken up by the Mint to be coined and issued, the bullion would become scarcer and rise in value, while the legal tender would become more abun dant, and fall in value. At Melbourne, when coia bad become very scarce, an ounce of coined gold actually commanded an ounce and a third of uncoined gold of equal *eness. _ _ While the monopoly we have assigned to gold raises its value as metal, the issue of legal tender paper, making legal tender more abundant, lowers the value of the legal tender. The price of the gold being fixed by the law which binds the Bank to take all the gold offered at 31. 17s. 9d., and to pay it out at 3l 17s. 100., this alternation in value of money is, for a time, only indicated by the rise in value of all other articles. This rise stimulates large exports. The importer looks around for his returns, all commodities have risen. We are under no engagement to supply iron, lead, tin, or any other article at a fixed price, except gold. We thus bribe the foreigner to take our gold instead of our goods. The gold being gone the Bank is compelled to redince her issues of paper. Eight hundred private and joint-stock banks are instantly afflicted with the cramp, and seek to lock up the remaining money by increasing their reserves. Now, as unreduced debts cannot be paid by re duced money, this phasis of our system is equiva lent to a general decree of loss or insolvency against all who , by commercial enterprise have been con tributing to the welfare of the country. • Just at this moment the watchful Times advises caution, recommends all to limit their transactions, which means limiting employment, which is limiting the life of the labourer. It is equivalent to a proclamation through the land, " Now get ye to the workhouse or to your graves." No other resource is left to the labourer thrown out of em ployment by this fatal system. Even the press, the tardigrade press generally, is beginning to inquire into a system which becomes daily more incompatible with the advances of com mercial civilisation. DECLARATION OF PROFITS. INDISPUTABLE LIFE POLICY COM- Chainnan, Lord Viscount TORRINOTON.—The nest Division of Profits will be made in June, 1855, and those assured on or before the 31st of D,,cember, 1855, will participate one year earli.r than those assured after that date. A reduction of '25 per cent. has been made on the preminms of all Policies of 5 years' standing, ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, Manager. 74 Lombard-street, London. T O COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS and Others.—The TRAVELLERS' and WAHINE INSURANCE iIOWPANY grant Policies of Insurance against EVERY DESCRIP TION of ACCIDENT, whether occurring whilst travelling or other 'vise. CAPITAL, 250,0001. TRUSTEES. The Right TionourabTe - k;TlFitzwilliam, K.G. Matthew Marshall, Esq. (Bank of England). William Smee, Esq. ((lank of England). Sir Charles Fox. EXAMPLE OF RATES. Annual Premium. I Sum at Death. I Weekly Allowalee. £2 0 0 £l,OOO Xi 0 0 £1 5 0 I £5OO I £3 0 0 Forms of Proposal, Prospectuses, &e., may be obtained at the Chief Offices, 42 and 43, Poultry, London, between 10 and 4 o'clock. FRANCIS COBHAM, Registrar. THE PROVIDENT CLERKS' MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE ASSOCIATION and BENEVOLENT FUND. Eatablish . d 184 g. TIMM& Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P. I W. G. Prescott, Esq. Thomas Hankey, Esq., M.P. I Baron L. de Rothschild, M.P. Eastrzaa—John Abel Smith, Esq., M.P. LIFE ASSURANCE DEPARTMENT. 15, Moorgate-street, London, lath Dee , 1855._ Notice is hereby given, that the FIFTEENTH ANNUAL GENE RAL MEETING of the Members of the MUTUAL LIFE ASSU RANCE DEPARTMENT will be held at the London Tavern Bishopsgate-street, in the City of London. on MONDAY, the 21st day of January, 1656, at Six o'clock in the Evening precisely. The following Managers, in accordance with Rule 7, go out of office by rotation, but, being eligible, offer themselves for re-elec tion, viz. Mr. Edward Coleman. I Mr. John White Welch. Mr. Henry Rogers. Mr. Sancton Wood. By order of the Board. WILLIAM THOMAS LINFORD, Secretary. BENEVOLENT DEPARTMENT. Notice is hereby given, that the FIFTEENTH ANNUAL GENE RAL MEETING of the MEMBERS and FRIENDS of the BENE VOLENT DEPARTMENT, will he held at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, in the city of London, on MONDAY, the 21st day of January, ISM, at Half•past Seven o'clock, or immediately after the conclusion of the Vleeting of the Members of the Mutua Life Assurance Department, appointed to take place on the wool Evening, at the same plane, at Six o'clock prec;sely. JOHN ABEL SMITH, Esq., M.P., Treasurer, in the Chair. By order of the Board, WII.LIA TUONIAS LTNFORD, Secretary. * J O , The annual accounts of both departments may be inspected at the office one week prior to the general meeting. T HE LIVERPOOL and LONDON FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. Capital, Two Millions. Established In 1836. Empowered by 4pecial Acts of Parliament. Offices : a 7, Castle-street, Liverpool ; 20 and 21, Poultry, London ; and 61, King-street, Manchester. ------- TRUSTEES. Sir Thomas Bernard Birch, Bart. Adam Hodgson. Esq. I Samuel Henry Thompson, Esq. DIRECTORS IN LIVERPOOL. CuAtaIwa—THONEAS BROCK , EBANK, Esq. DaTuTT-Ctwasos - Joseph C. Ewart. Esq., and Francis Haywood, Esq. Secretary—Swinton Moult, Esq. DIRECTORS IN LONDON. Chairman—MAWllEW FORSTF.R, Esq. Deputy-Chairman—Georrze Frederick Young, Esq. Resident Secretary—Benjamin Henderson, Esq. DIRECTORS IN MANCHESTER. Chairman - SAMUEL ASH r 0, ,, Esq. E. R. Lanworthy, Esq. I James Aspinali Turner, Esq. Edward Tootal, Esq. I Thomas Wrigley, Esq. Resident Secretary—R. A. Kennedy, Esq. FIRE DEPARTMENT. Premiums received in 1853 were 113,6121. ; and in 1854, 146 0961. Insurances may be effected in this department on terms as lev► as those of most other Companies. Farming Stock Insured at 3s. percent., free from the conditions of average, and allowing a Steam Thrashing Machine. LIFE DEPARTMENT. Premiums received on New Business were, in 1853, 6,9131 ; and In 1854, 10.967/. Annuities Immediate and Deferred. Bonuses guaranteed when the Policy is issued. No Stamp Duty charged. Prospectuses and further information may be obtained at the Offices of the Company, or from any of the agents. Persons whose Fire Policies with this Company expire on the 25th instant are respectfully reminded that receipts for the renewal of the name will be found at the Head Offices in Liverpool. London, and Manchester, and in the hands of the Agents. SWINTON BOULT, Secretary to the Company. GUARDIAN FIRE AND LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, No. 11, Lombard-street, London. DIRECTORS. FRANCIS HART DYKE, lIENRY HULSE RERUN! John Dixon, Esq. Sir W. M. T. Farquhar, Bart. Sir Walter R. Farquhar, Brt. T. Hankey, Esq., M.P. John Harvey, Esq. John G. Hubbard, Esq. George Johnstone, Esq. John Labouchere, Esq. John Loch, Esq. Esq.. Chairman. 5, Esq., Deputy-Chairman. Stewart Marloribanks, Esq. John Martin, Esq., M.P. Rowland Mitchell, Esq. James Morris, Esq. Henry Norman, Esq. Henry R. Reynolds, Esq. John Thornton, Esq. James Tulloch, Esq. Henry Vigne, Esq. [TOES. A. W. Roberts, Esq. I Henry Sykes Thornton, Esq. Lewis Lloyd, jun., Esq. John Henry Smith, Esq. George Keys, Esq., Secretary. Samuel Brown, Esq.. Actuary. AUDI' LIFE DEPARTMENT.—Under the provisions of an Act of Par liament, this Company now offers to future insurers Four-fifths of the Profits, with Quinquennial Division, or a Low Rate of Premium without participation of Profits. The next division of Profits will be declared in June, 1860, when all participating Policies which shall have subsisted at least one year at Christmas, 1859, will be allowed to share in the Profits. At the five divisions of Profits made by this Company, the total reversionary Bonuses added to the Policies have exceeded 913,0001. At Christmas last the Assurances in force amounted to upwards of 4,240,0001. ; the Income from the Life Branch in 1854 was more than 200,000/. ; and the Life Assurance Fund (independent of the Guarantee Capital) exceeded 1,700,000/. FOREIGN RISKS.—The Extra Premiums required for the East and West Indies, the British Colonies, and the northern parts of the United States of America, have been materially reduced. INVALID LlVES.—Persons who are not in such sound health as would enable them to insure their Lives at the Tabular Premiums, may have their Lives insured at Extra Premiums. LOANS granted on Life Policies to the extent of their values, pro vided such Policies shall have been effected a sufficient time to have attained in each case a value not under 501. ASSIGNMENTS OF POLICIES.—Written Notices of, received and registered. Medical tees paid by the Company, and n o charge will be made for Policy Stamps. Notice is hereby given, That Fire Policies which expire at Christ mas must be renewed wild!) fifteen days r►t this Office, or with Mr. dams, No. 1, St. Jam•s's-strcet, corner of Pall-mall; or with the Company's Agents throughout the kingdom, otherwise they become void. Losses caused by Exloslon of Gas are admitted by this Company. STAR PACKETS from the TERRACE PIER, tittIVESEND, 9, 2. „To brpwlCK wtIARI , RLACKWILL, on the airrlVA , of the following Trains from Fenchureh-street,l9l4, 3 1 4, weather permit ting. Th , P , ,ckets will call at the Rosb.erville, Greenhitho, Puttied and North WoolWich To or f. , JO/1 1 1621•..... 10d 19. id. 4ravt send sad Itlackwall or Wool ivicl , tld. .. Os. lCd. art , l London .• ..... (4. 1 0d Frith Ant Filackwall or Woolwich... Cd. .. 03. 8.1. `waves , -s and [ntor+nediate Pia fid. Os. Bd. Octol•tr 23, 1155. IN THE HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY. riIIESEM A R.—On the 29t:h of May, 1855, 413 injunction vets granted by the ilig'n Court of Chancery, and the tI th June following was made perpetual, against Joseph 'ranklin and “thers, to restrato them, un ler a penalty of one thou end pounds, from irnitatinz this Medici' te, which is protected by , toyal Letters Patent at - England, and se zured Dy the 6eals of the F,cole de Pfiarnmscie de Paris, and the Imp nu' college of Medicine , Vienna. TRIESEMAR, No. 1, Is a remedy for Relaxation, Sperfnetnrrhces.,. end Exhaustion of tb , iy-tem, whether arising from excesses, acc'etent, or climate. To those persons who are prevented entering the married state I: 01 .he consequences of early er rors it is invainvaluable. TRIESEMAR, No. electually, in the short space o f th ree d ays, comp l ete l y an d satire eradicates all traces of th ose Di sor d ers wi dch Capivi an d Cubebs :lave so long been thought a n an tid o t e f or, to the ruin o f th e health )r a vast portion of the population. TRIRSEMAR, No. 3, - - - is the great Continental Remedy for that Uteri of Disorders, which nortunately the English physician treats wit h Mercury, to the in e7itable defunietion of the patient's constitution, and which an the sarsaparilla in the world cannot remove. TRIEAEMAIt, No. 1,2, and a, are alike devoid of taste or smell, ind of all nauseating qualities. They may lie on the toilet taME without their use being suspected. Sold in tin cases at I Is. each, free by post, 2s. extra, divided into , eparate doses, as administered '.)y Valpfessn, Lallemand, Roux, kc., &e.—To be had Wholesale and Retail in London at Johnston, 68 Comhill; Hannay and Co., 63, Oxford-street; and manger, I SO, Ox ford-street ; R. H. Ingham, druggist, 46. Ni rirket-street, Manchester ; IL Bradbury, bookseller, Deansgate, Bolton ; J. Priestly, chemist, W, Lord-street, Liverpool; Powell, bookseller, 45, Westmoreland-street, Dublin; Winnall. bookseller, High-street, Birmingham. ME SECRET INFIRMITIES OF YOUTH AND MATURITY . lust published, price se., illustrated with was, free by post for 26 stamps, ERVO S DEBILITY; Ll Its Causes, symptoms, and Cure.—in Essay on Sper catorrheea, with Practical Observations on a safer and more necesstul mode of treatment of the dilemma of the Generative system, obtained by the use: of the Microscope in detecting and tistinguishing, by urinary examination, the real cause and effect of every variety of complaint, whether arising from solitary habits, iacesses, accident, or climate, followed by practical remarks, founded gi twenty years' exierience in the treatment of Impuissance, Nervous Debility, Local Weakness, Spermntorrhcea, &c, To which ire added, Commentaries on the Physiolocr of Marriage, with pro iautionary hints on the evils emanating from empirical practice, and on the dangerous remedies advocated by various writers on these important disorders. By SAMUEL LAWERT M.D. $7, REDFORD-SQUA hE, LONDON, Dsctor of Medicine, Matriculated Member ot the University of Edir.- burgh, Honorary Member of the London Hospital Medical Society, Lioentiate of Apothecaries' Hall, London. &e., &c. The essential object of this treatise is to point out the fearful con ...lances resulting from certain habits, irregularities, and excesses, ehich have produced more misery in Youth, dwradatios in Man ood, and premature decay at all stages of Life, than, perhaps, any ,they class of disease known to modern pathologists. Its perusal ie ierticuiarly recommended to persons entertaining secret doubts of v•eir physical condition, and who are conscious of having hazarded tile health, happiziear, and privileges to which every human being is entitled. It is absolutely necessary that an men sbould know, that there arr inciples of personal management which cannot be violated withou .r , lrrlng grievous penalties, and when wisdom and regret succeed heyday of inconsiderate self-indulgence, how these penalties Ay be mitigated, haw the sting of their bitterness may be removed .1 how the evil and its consequences may co avoided, and above all there is scarcely any degree of physical tnfirmity or functions' atgement to whiah the timely aid of science cannot apply a cure. author ha. for a aeries of years been engaged in an extensive .;:. ,etice in the treatment of these delicate complaints, which have , r:ortunately been too generally confided tt the care of ignortui em'Arics, who infict great injury on those wi..o are induced to place lalth in their pretensions. DEBLLITY may be had price 28, of Messrs. Sher wood bind Co., 23, l'ateriA.bl,,,r-row; Hannay, 63, Oxiord-street ; Loicestzr , square; Mann, 39, Cornhill; or free by post for :S it. n.ly, tp an, ..ridrev fron. , the li.uthor'3 residence, 37, Bed forths _ • daily.froin tlevan till two, and from z till t ig h h O t ine M con.initatoo eight. It is impossible much longer to bind industry and its complicated divisions of labour down to barter —nay, what is worse, to a monopoly of bartar for gold. Free trade will not tolerate this bondage. The paper system, which the instiacts and neces sities of the people have continually enlarged, can not longer be permitted to rest on the narrow basis of gold, rendered unstable both by the law and by the increased rapidity of communication with foreign States. A foreign loan or speculation, a short harvest, a telegraphic despatch, anything, in short, may, by causing a sudden exportation of gold, derange our whole commercial system. I scarcely need recall to your mind how frequent and fatal such panics have been, how fertile of insolvency, misery end crimes, and that in the depth of our ruin and the triumph of our prosperity the amount of our wealth was exactly the same, but disorganised by the failure of our monetary system. It will be well for the Times seriously to consider whether it wili be be coming its rank and character to be the first to err, the last to learn, in a matter so deeply involving the interests of civilisation and humanity. It is a vulgar error, that the value of legal tender money depends on the obligation of the issuer to redeem it in gold, or to redeem it at all, or to give any security whatever. The value of wheat depends on the fact that it ministers to the great human necessity of satisfying hunger. The value of legal tender depends on its legal power of ministering to the equal human necessity of satisfying debt, and in both cases those values will vary exactly in proportion to their abun denbe and-scarcity Tehitively- to the wont; of -Midi kind. To satisfy debt is the solifunction of money and the sole element of its value. Money ought not to be merchandise which can be melted and robbed of its vital function as the canceller of debt. Instead of " the promise to pay," which appears so simple and definite to the t imes, it is payment which is more simple and definite still. The only problem to solve is to maintain it in such quanti ties as shall be in harmony with the just require ments of industry. What are the conditions we seek? The first and most sacred right we have to protect is that of the labourer to full employment. I have shown that increased money of necessity increases employment and sustains prices. A sufficient issue of legal ten der money will give full employment to labour, producing the greatest amount of national wealth, and the money that produces the wealth will al ways be able to effect its distribution, securing the greatest amount of national happiness. Iu 1853, with abundance of legal tender money, labour was fully employed in every branch through out the kingdom ; all the classes you have enume rated were happy, prosperous, and contented. Every man was his own Chancellor of the Exchequer. The air was everywhere resonant with the music of gipsey parties of the labouring classes, there was joy and contentment throughout the land, and the workhouses were empty. The Bank of England, under the compulsion of the law, reduced its issues, and at the present moment the workhouses and gaols are altogether insufficient to contain the paupers and criminals ; our wealth and means o wealth being identically the same, the derange ment of our monetary system alone disorganises every interest. The Times has fulfilled many a mission of humanity and justice ; I still hope it will look more deeply than it has hitherto done into this all-important question, and that it will enter its powerful prot,ist against the happiness of the people being longer made the sport of an obsolete theory.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. C. SALT. " Come, expound your riddle, Mr. Salt. What is the rtn,tter with the bank note ?" See the Times, Dec. 13. Sir, —I will answer your question, and solve the rid dle. In return, I claim of you the solution of a greater riddle than mine. What would have been the matter with the bank-note if the gold in California and Australia bad not been dis covered ! What would have been the matter with the country under the effects of a law compelling the pay ment of all debts, public and private, in gold absolutely unequal to their discharge 1' What would have been the condition of the editor of the Tinter, even now agonised by the delay of a single vessel bringing a supply of gold, if none of them had arrived at all l To these questions I want a clear, fair, and specific answer, and not merely wit and literary banter. Sir Robert Peel's bill is universally acknowledged to have been a gigantic error, from which accident has only imperfectly rescued us. Shall we correct or cling to the error and its consequennes, and depend on future chances? I say the discovery of gold has only partially saved us ; even now we are suffering from intolerable usury, and from the contraction of our monetary system. Under this double effect our workhouses and gaols, which were empty, are overflowing. Is not that fact enough 1 But what is the matter with the ban K-note I—that is the question. Why, it is gone ! That is the matter, and a pretty considerable matter too, seeing our debts are not gone with it. It is wild of you, Sir, talking of my taking a Han som cab, going to the bank of England, and getting five sovereigns. I hate not got the note ; hence my grief, A vast quantity of gold money has left the country • the Bank of England has reduced its issues of note s from 25,000,0001. to 19,000,000/. Every bank in England-800 banks—has secured a portion of the 19,000,0001. to increase their reserves ; the Government is exacting 100,000,000/ instead of 60,000,000/. of taxation, and you coolly tell me to take a Hansom and present my 5/. note at the Bank. I tell you v l h have y i it not de s t g r o o t y t e h l e l n — ot fo e r ; a i t i g o s odi withdrawn yreas on, - f destroyed. orso o t becaase we have no gold money, —ergo we shall have no paper money ; and you ask what is the matter with the cote l Why it is dead--not sick, but dead. That is the matter. Now, I pray you, solve me the riddle how, with this remnant of stagnant money, wa ges and debts are to be paid'' Sol-re m e th a t r iddl e and you shall be immor talised. I will not 'a aete your titre nor the time of your rea ders by disputing whether the price of g old is fixed ; the Bank of England, i d, we know, is obl i g ed to supply it at a fixed prise, which is a sufficient fact for all but the most refined understandings . . Sir, iu the coniiri, se ssion this subject must be dis custeCi, and the Tinies cannot afford to be behind all its contemporaries, and almost alone to support errors no glaring as those of onr monetary system. I know that editorial etiquette forbids the confession of error, but THE CURRENCY QUESTION. The following are the three letters addressed by Mr. Salt to the editor of the Times, with the reply of th• Times thereto : Sir,—l think your comments on my sayings at the meeting on the Bank Charter Act giTe me a claim for a space in your columns for explanation. You say that I " tantalise you with a promise of safe but inexhaustible riches," and you assume that a regulated issue of paper money would not give the honest labourer full employment at remunera- tion prices. Thereon your imagination indulges' in an amus ing picture of a Chancellor of the Exchequer hunted home by packs of countless thousands of Man chester spinners, Dorsetshire labourers, Spitalsfield weavers, distressed needlewomsn, &a. Witty if you will, but pray keep in mind that a spice of wisdom would not mar your wit, and that all decent feeling of humanity must for a moment 1 have slumbered, when you could enumerate so lightly classes whose very names call up recolleo dons of suffering, neglect, and social crime too strong for words. But to return to your Chancellor hunt. What are the facts 1 A. diminished issue of money has invariably re duced employment and multiplied deputations, — set all the packs in full cry; while an increased issue of money has invariably increased the em ployment of labour, put an end to deputations, dispersed the packs, and left the Chancellor sleep ing undisturbed in his form. During these re laxations of the money laws the deadly discords between the Government and the people hay. ()eased ; oven Chartism has been voiceless, and the governing and the governed seem to have forgotten each other's mutual existence. But you appear to doubt that such will be the result of an increased issue of legal tender. Let u see what will become of it. It will not be locked up, because, while it is so, imterest is forfeited and capital also, as much so 10 if it did not exist. Therefore it will be made some use of. Nov, the ingenuity of man cannot devise a mode of employing money without employing labour to that extent ; and if the issue of money he maintained, the power that creates wealth will always effect its distribution ministering equally to national wealth and individual happiness, and what you call one of my " deliciousinowents" will be so far perpetuated. But a fear crosses your mind. " Who," say you, "is to stop the floodgates ?" I ask, who stops them now ? The law ! lEve we not 14 millions of legal tender paper issued on debt-14 millions of paper convertible into gold, without an ounce of gold to satisfy the promise ? You see, sir, that the system you uphold is not a pure and perfect chry solite. It is the law and not the gold that limits this issue, and closes your floodgates. Then comes the question—Why was this amount of inconvertible paper fixed at 14 millions ? Be cause it was needful for an indebted Government. But shall there be no honey for the people, and would it not be more creditable that the necessities of the governed should be considered as well as those of the governing t Is it the end for which Government was created that it should take care of itself, and utterly neglect and damage the interests of the people I You say " there is a force and simplicity in the words, I promise to pay on demand."' Now, I will grapple with you on that point, and show that, taking these words in the sense used in the Bank of England note, they contain more of fraud, folly, Lnd mystification than any words in human lan- page. Ttie law ass umes assigning to the promise to pay a definite quantity of gold, it fixes the value of the note. It does no such thing as fix that value. Abundance and scarcity are the only regulators of value. By the issue of paper money, in addition to gold money, money is made more abundant ; abundant money creates confidence, investments are multi. plied, a v ast quantity of bills at a date are created, this increased quantity of money and the increased rapidity of its cir c u lation lower its value, till the exportation of gold and the withdrawal of the paper again lower the prices, and so all trade i s made an alternative of speculation and ruin ; honest industry is sacrificed, and the watchers of the turn of the market alone thrive, and this is the plain and simple m eanin g of " I promise to pay." From an inherent necessity the use of paper money has grown in proportion to the progress of comm commercial civilisation, till it bears a dominant proportion to the use of metallic money, that the metallic money, though it can disarrange, is power less to regulate. The fixing the price of gold by Sir Robert Peel's bill is pure Jack Cadeism. If fixing the price fixes the value, why not fix the price of every thing ? Why not fix the price of bread at id. the quar t er " loaf ? Simply because fixing the price does not fix, but merely disguises, the fluctuations in the value of our legal tender—fluctuations which arbitrarily disturb and alter all other values. Hence the frequent ruin that has broken up our prosperity, disorganised all its elements, and made our wealth, our insolvency, and our pauperism alternately the wonder of the world. Hence it is that the Times, awakened from its I" delicious dream," has to guess and wonder whet h er We shall get over the 4th of each month 7 3"