The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 5, 1857.

that Austria would consent to continue the telegraph
to India, in which case the English Ministry would
gladly pay for its use. The Turkish Government,
he added, proposed to establish a line from Con•
siantinople to a point on the Persian Gulf, if the
English Government would consent to extend it to

THE 4 6 CAGLIARI."

Mr. M. 1111LNEs asked what steps had been taken
to secure the release of the two English engineers
of the steamer Cagliari, who had been so long
detained in prison in Naples.

Lord PALMERSTON eiplained the circumstance
under which the two detenues had been appre-
hended, and the measures taken by the Foreign
Secretary in their behalf. The men had nothing to
complain of with respect to their treatmen t ; money
had been freely supplied for their use, and able
counsel retained for their defence upon trial. As
matters stood there was nothing to complain of in the
conduct of the Neapolitan Government.

Tho report upon the Address in reply to the Royal
Speech was brought up and agreed to after some
conversatior.

THE DANK ACT.

The house having resolved itself into committee,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the
preliminary resolution necessary for the introduction
of a Bill of Indemnity sanctioning the breach of the
Act of 1844 by the directors of the Bank of England.
After entering into a copious detail of the circum-
stances which had induced the Government to issue
their letter on the 12th of November, and comparing
the commercial position of affairs on that day with
the powerful status in October, 1847, when a similar
proceeding had taken place, Sir G. C. Lewis con-
tended that the measure was justified by the neces-
sity of the case. The act, he admitted, was sponta-
neous on the part of the Government, who had been
subjected to no pressure from without, but having
adopted the step en their own idea of public advan-
tage, they were prepared to accept the entire respon-
sibility. The result, he submitted, had been per-
fectly successful. Alarm had subsided ; relief was
afforded to commerce at a crisis when total suspen-
sion was impending without impeaching in the
slightest degree the perfect convertibility of the
Bank of England notes. The right hon. baronet
then proceeded to contend that the policy pursued
by the Bank with regard to its note issues had
always been most judicious, and that the system
which regulated its operations had worked well. At
moments of panic, however, the commercial public
seemed affected by an access of irrationality which
seemed to require exceptional treatment. This point
he proposed to submit to a select committee, who
might also inquire into the advisability of rendering
Bank of England notes a legal tender in all parts of
the United Kingdom.

Mr. GLAIISTO;E confessed that the present act of
the Government was warranted by the precedent
established in 1847. He strongly objected to the
reappointment of the select committee, feeling
assured that it would practically postpone ail legis-
lation on the Bank Act probably for an indefinite
period. There was no danger that the house would
legislate precipitately on the question. Two or three
hundred members at least had studied the subject,
and were provided with special nostrums for its
settlement. It was a question which attracted men's
minds, and indeed often overset them. Currency
had made as many lunatics as love. The appoint-
ment of a committee to inquire into the commercial
causes of the present crisis would, he thought, be
exceedingly injudicious.

Mr. SrooNER attributed the difficulties experi-
enced by the commercial public to the operation of
the Bank Act, and approved of the proposal to sub-
mit the whole question to a select committee. The
subject required a thorough investigation.

Mr. GLYN believed that much misconception had
arisen from a confusion of the ideas of capital and
currency. He pointed out the distinction between
those principles, and traced the action of each into
its practical consequences. The legal limitation to
the Bank issues aggravated the pressure which it did
not cause, and must, he insisted, be at Pitch times
inevitably relaxed. The power of relaxation should
not be intrusted to the Government, but to the
directors of the Bank, under parliamentary control.
Mr. HENLEY thought the Government fully justi-
fied in creating the law, but inquired why a law
should be maintained which it was periodically neces-
sary to break ?

Lord Joint RUSSELL expressed himself tolerably
satisfied with the Act of 1844, and entirely satisfied
with the suggestion that it should be referred to a
committee. The Government had also, in his
opinion, exercised a wise discretion in relaxing the
law just in time to avert serious disasters. The
existing Bank Act was, he thought, a useful supple-
ment to the Act of 1819, and, on the whole, worked
well. But no statute could altogether prevent
panics, and against such periods of crisis it might be
reinisite to provide some dispensing power, The

noble lord then related the circumstances attending
the relaxation sanctioned by his own Administration
in 1847, and admitted that the present position of
affairs exhibited parallel conditions, justifying a
similar indulgence.
Mr. DisfisEra wished. to rescue the question from
the declamation in which it had been enveloped by
many speakers on both sides of the house. The
subject for their consideration arose out of a breach
of the law on the part of her Majesty's Ministers.
This act was prompted by the commercial distress of
the country, and it was necessary to inquire into the
causes of that distress. It was observable that dis-
tress was universal, extending over the United States
and the Continent of Europe, and must have been
caused not by any mismanagement of the currency
in England, but mismanaging the capital of
Europe. Adverting to the Act of 1841, the
right hon. gentleman admitted that its avowed pur-
pose, that of securing the convertibility of the bank-
note, was irreproachable ; but he thought it aggra-
vated the suffering experienced in periods of pres-
sure. Under its machinery the managers of the
Bank of England were obliged to treat in the same
manner two very different symptoms—namely, a
foreign drain of bullion, and a domestic drain. It
was unjust to accuse those who wished to secure a
more liberal supply of bank notes of wishing to tam-
per with the currency, or inundate t to country with
depreciated paper. Distress and distrust now pre-
vailed through the circles of commerce, which he
could not think attributable to the management of
the currency ; but it was a striking coincidence that
the act by which the currency was regulated was
always found intolerable at such periods, and that
when it was suspended distrust and distress was at
once assuaged. The system of currency and conver-
tibility of bank-notes were too important matters to
be left under an act which it was constantly neces-
sary to suspend. It was most injurious to teach com-
mercial men to act upon the belief that the law could
be broken for their benefit. Lord John Russell bad
proposed to leave matters as they stood, allowing the
act to continue in force during quiet times, but per-
mitting the Government to suspend it in cases of
crises with no further check than the applying to
Parliament for a Bill of Indemnity. He protested
against this policy, as being to the last degree uncon-
stitutional, and should regret to believe that English
commerce must always remain in a state of inter-
mittent prosperity, broken up with constant repeti-
tions of panic. If the suspending power was exer-
cised, as a matter of regular course, how could the
moment cf its application be determined ? How
compensate the injustice inflicted upon mercantile
firms who failed just before the act was relaxed, and
who might have been saved if the interposition had
been anticipated even by a few hours? In eight
weeks lately 85 commercial houses had failed, with
liabilities exceeding 42,000,0001., all but 8,000,0001.
of which appertained to firms that suspended pay-
ment before the issue of the letter of November 12th,
and many of them a very short time previously. He
maintained the expediency of remodelling the law,
so as to render further suspension unnecessary, and
regretted to find ber Majesty's Ministers so unwilling
to undertake that task. The Bill of Indemnity was
really required on behalf of the Bank directors, who
had acted well, and lie should therefore willingly
consent to pass it. With the conduct of the Go-
vernment he could not express his approbation.
The house was amply informed on the subject of
the currency. There was no reason for postponing
legislation. The principle of convertibility must be
maintained inviolate, but the act should be modified
in those particulars which rendered it a cause of
aggravating distress in periods of commercial diffi-
culty. The law sufficed to meet the contingency of
a foreign drain for bullion, but had proved wholly
inadequate to cope with the demand occasioned by a
domestic drain. Several committees had sat within
the last twelve years on the question of the Bank
Act. Many large volumes of evidence had been
collected. Information in abundance was in their
hands. The time was come when they should call
on Government to settle the question. What was
the use of a Government that could not settle such
a question? and what was the use of a Parliament
that could not force the Government to settle the
question? As the Legislature had been summoned
at an unusual time it was right that they should not
only pass a Bill of Indemnity, but indicate a line of
policy. Mr. Disraeli cmcluded by suggesting that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer should divide his
motion for a select committee from the Bill of In-
demnity, intimating his intention to move an amend-
ment to the former motion to the effect that it was
more expedient to legislate than to prosecute further
investigation.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER accepted this
proposal, preferring to proceed with the bill on
Monday, and take the debate on the appointment of
the committee on Friday next.
The resolution was agreed to, and the house
having resumed, the bill was brought in and read a
first time.

The house adjourned at a quarter to twelve o'clock;

f ittraturt.

Essays on the Early Period of the French Revo-
lution. By the late Right Hon. John Wilson
Croker. London : Murray.
THESE essays are of great value, although
exhibiting some of the defects of the accom-
plished writer's peculiar turn of mind. It is
to be specially noted that they are upon " the
early" history of the French Revolution, a sub-
ject on which there have been innumerable
errors. Mr. Croker performed signal services
in exposing the inaccurate delineation and the
blundering chronology of several of the revo-
lutionary writers, who sought to destroy the
personal credit of Louis XVI. and his hapless
Queen. He was particularly familiar with the
details of the French Revolution. These essays
(which we carefully read on their first ap-
pearance) are distinguished by great literary
acumen, much historical research, and by not
a little of the professional adroitness which
accompany the talents of a practising bar •
rister. In some special passages, their success
was completely annihilating. In our long
recollection of periodical literature, we do not
remember any case of such a perfectly
crushing review as Mr. Croker's masterly and
decisive exposure of the slanders and stupid
mistakes of Lord Holland's memoirs. We
cannot conceive that anything more destruc-
tive could be written than, the essay of Mr.
Croker on Lord Holland, and its publication
had a great effect with the public. The sel-
fishness, malignity, and intemperance of the
whole school of revolutionary agitators in
France was laid bare by Mr. Croker with con-
summate skill, and we rejoice that there was
so formidable a literary Attorney-General in
England to impeach the reckless statements
of the Jacobin school of writers.
Mr. Croker has glanced at his own fitness
for his mission in the preface to this post-
humous publication of his essays. He was
born and raised in the old Protestant Academy
of Ireland, yet he wished that a qualified sys-
tem of " Emancipation" should be offered to
the Roman Catholics of his native country.
Between the French Revolution and the Irish
Rebellion there were electric affinities, and it
is not unnatural to suppose that young Wilson
Croker, who witnessed the spread of the
United Irish conspiracy, should have enter-
tained strong prejudices against the working
of the French Revolution. Mr. Croker began
life a Royalist in feelings, a Tory in opinions,
and a Pittite in connection. In talents, he
was brilliant, able, and various. He
wrote satiric verse with much effect. His
tracts were so terse, and pregnant with
political thought, that some of them are
highly valued. He was a successful speaker
in Parliament, and it would be impossible to
overrate the value of his admirable debating
during the Reform Bill period. We do not recol-
lect any man of his generation who had so ver-
satile an understanding. He could deal with
arguments either logically or satirically ; his
stock of anecdotes and personal allusions was
copious ; and, from his education for the legal
profession, he had acquired the art of bold
and forcible cross-examination. The literary
style of these papers partakes of such qualities
as might be anticipated from such antecedents.
They are more polemical than pictorial, more
argumentative than narrative. They must be
classified under " criticism " rather than his-
tory. Their value as commentaries is very
great.
In alluding to his own recollections of the
Freneh Revolution, Mr. Croker observes in the
preface to the volume:—
My memory and observations of public affairs are about
coeval with that event. I was in my ninth year when the
Bastille was taken; it naturally made a great impression
on me, and the bloody scenes that so rapidly followed
rendered that impression unfavourable. Such also was the
feeling of my wise and excellent parents, and an alliance
between our family and that of Mr. Burke helped to con-
firm us in that great man's prophetic opinions,which every
event from that day to this appears to me to have wonder-
fully illustrated and fulfilled.
I have thought it Lair to say thus much of my own
personal feeling, that the reader may be aware of the bias
under which I may be suspected of writing, but I must
at the same time most conscientiously protest that I have
not knowingly allowed it to warp my judgment, nor, as I
still more confidently affirm, to misrepresent either by