The Press.
London, England, 1856-10-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

S ATURDAY,

men and Dissenters—must be left to vote according to their con-
victions. What we have protested against is, the impudence of
bringing it forward as a party question. Major BE RESFORD
must allow us to correct the exaggeratioa of his language when
he asserts " that THE PRESS has presumed to censure and to assail
" every man who ventured to oppose the endowment of Maynooth, and
" to vituperate in no measured terms every attempt to disturb or
" alter that endowment." As politely as we can, we beg to inform
the honourable Member for North Essex that he has misrepresented
us. We have not censured and assailed every man opposed to May-
nooth, and, as for vituperation, we hope that it is foreign to our
columns. We have, indeed, spoken of " Spoonerism," but the cham-
pions of a movement are not in general insensible to the compliment
of having the movement identified with their names. It was only
when the Maynooth agitation took an intolerant shape that we ven-
tured plainly to express our opinion that it was not for the interest of
the Conservative community that any attempt should be made to elevate
it into a party question. To that opinion we adhere. It is one of those
pitfalls into which our adversaries would gladly lure us. If once caught
in it, the great Conservative connection would be powerless for
any good purpose, and the Liberals would have reason to exult in
having secured a monopoly of power, and the opportunity of nomi-
nating Roman Catholics to all the high places of honour and influence
in Ireland. We would save the Conservative party from the enormous
blunder of making a confession of political impotence, and we aro
happy to think that our efforts have been so far successful as to
prevent attempts being made in future to give to the question of the
Maynooth endowment any party sign►ficance. As to the teaching of
Maynooth, it is a question of what may be called Educational Police,
which educational reformers of all kinds are fairly entitled to look into

The Rev. CHENEVIX TRENCH, at one time confidentially named as
the new Bishop of Gloucester, is to be recompensed for his disappoint-
ment by being made Dean of Westminster. We believe it to be quite
true that Mr. TRENCH was the choice of the Premier for the vacant see.
His family believed the appointment settled, as after the announce-
ment in the Times, the brother of the Reverend Gentleman wrote to cor•
rect an error made by that journal in its biographical notice of the
new bishop, and took the fact of the appointment as granted. But
there was one individual whose pleasure had not been consulted, before
the appointment was virtually made. The QUEEN, we are assured, first
learned the nomination of the Rev. CHENEVIX TRENCH to the vacant
see of Gloucester through the columns of a public journal, and de-
clined to sanction an appointment on which her pleasure had never
been taken. The consequence was that Mr. TRENCH missed his in-
tended elevation, and that Dr. BARING was raised to the vacant bishop-
ric in his place. The lesson we hope will not be lost on the Premier :
it is obviously indecorous that the QUEEN should be first informed of
her nominations through a newspaper.

It is singular to mark how commonly in speculating on the conse-
quences of events we miss the results which, when evolved by time,
seem the most natural. When the gold discoveries were announced,
there were all sorts of conjectures of what would be done if gold
became as plentiful as iron. A glut of gold was confidently predicted,
and as a consequence a great rise in the value of money securities. No
one anticipated that one of the most conspicuous results would be a
scarcity of gold, yet such scarcity, after seven years of more ample pro-
duction than any one at first ventured to anticipate, has come upon us;
and now it has come, it seems so natural that we wonder how no ono
had the sagacity to predict it. The first effect of the gold production
was to stimulate the commerce of the world, and to open new channels
of trade. A rise in the price of commodities naturally followed. Such
rise is no longer matter of dispute. It is experienced everywhere—
in Spain, in Italy, in Turkey, as well as in St. Petersburg, Paris,
and London; but the rise has of course been most felt
in those countries which, as compared with England, were
remarkable for the low prices of their commodities. Assuming the gold
circulation of the world to have been one thousand millions previous
to the working of the Californian and Australian mines, a general rise
of ten per cent. in the value of the marketable commodities of the
world would absorb. for the necessities of commerce, the hundred
millions or more which the new mines have produced, and with the
higher rate of prices, gold itself would, of course, be as scarce as
heretofore. But, further, through the extension of the currents of
trade, new channels have been opened, and old channels have been
expanded for specie to flow in. The streams of commerce have been
agitated, there has been a greater movement of the precious metals,
and from that movement the commercial capitals of the world are now
suffering some inconvenience. We believe that it I%ill but be tem-
porary, and that it is entirely unconnected with political causes.
Should it be seriously felt in France, a suspension for a time
of cash payments by the Bank of France, as immediately
after the Revolution of 1848, would be only a prudent measure
of precaution, and, with the prudent management for which that great
Corporation has heretofore been famous, need not be attended with
any inconvenient results. When the public mind is reassured, the
pressure would most likely cease. It is observable, that notwith-
standing the monetary pressure, the rates of agricultural produce
keep up There is no reason to expect that they will ever again,
except from purely natural causes—as a succession of abundant har-
vests—be ever greatly depressed in this country. The gold discoveries
have counteracted the effects of free trade, and have raised the agri-
cultural markets of the world to our height, instead of beating down
ours to their level. We hope our agricultural friends will mike the
most of their " good time," and look to the future, as the prospects
of agriculture were never on the whole; brighter in this country than
they aro at the present time.