The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-08 00:00:00

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TO CO aItESI'ONI)RNTS.
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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 8.

MR. GL.WSTONE is about to attempt a monetary
coup trtliat. Our readers will be quite prepared for
this announcement, since we have already ven, from
day to day, in our report of the Money Market the
rumours as they arose on this buhject. We are now
able to confirm what we have hitherto publblied
by reprinting in another column " The Resolu-
tions to be proposed by Mr. CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER in Committee, on the Acts relating to
the National Debt."

The document is somewhat long and somewhat
obscure, but very important. If we were to sum-
marise its purport we might say this official paper
attempts to explain the mode by which the Goverumi nt
propose to take advantage of the present state of the
Money Market for the benefit of the tax-payer. Such
is, of course, the object of the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, and the only differences of opinion that
can arise will be on the success likely to be secured
by the plan pointed out. The whole nation is
naturally interested in every attempt to reduce the
weight of the debt, but the nation is, if possible, still
more deeply interested in maintaining the public
credit—unsullied by even the breath of a suspicion
that any steps would be taken by which
the spotless monetary reputation of England could
be lowered. With our increased resources from the
discoveries of gold—with our growing industry and
wealth from the establishment of free-trade, we are,
perhaps, more than ever able to bear lightly the
irksome burthen of taxation. But no amount of BSc-
Mil or prosperity can be reason enough for resting
quiet under any needless imposts, and if our present
condition is such as to offer an opportunity for at
once upholding to the full the national credit, and,
at the same time, relieving the hurdles of the na-
tional debt, men of all political sections can
do no other than congratulate themselves and
the country when a minister prudently but
boldly declares his readiness to undertake the task.
there is no originality in Mr. GLADSTONE'S object.
Railway Corporations have of late been able to pay
off old five per cent. mortgages by money borrowed
at four per cent - one per cent. being saved to the
shareholders. Mr. GLADSTONE contemplates the
performance of just such an operation out another
scale with the mortgages of that wealthy and
respected gentleman Mr. JOHN BULL. A little
while ago those floating liabilities of that
honourable individual, known as Exchequer Bills—
bearing interest at the rate of lid. per diem
per hundred pounds—were changed by a small, but
fair, monetary ruup (flint for bills bearing interest at
the rate only of one penny per diem per hundred pounds.
No such change could. have been made unless the
state of the market had been such as to assure any
supply of money the Government could want at the
reduced rate. The Cabiret being able to borrow on
those annual I 0 Li's called Exchequer Bills as
many hundred pouuds sterling as it wanted at
the rate of a penny a day for each of such hun-
dreds—declined to pay more than a penny a day,
and everybody said " Well done," except on the
one point, that Government information had been
got early, and had been made use of by a certain
favoured corporation for private purposes. By the
reduction of interest on Exchequer Bills about a
hundred thousand a year is expected to be saved,
and, encouraged by this success, we have
our CHANCELLOR cr the Excuequxa coming
forward with a scheme for riding full
tilt at the solid burthen of the Three per Cents.
Free trade and the importations of gold enabled Mr.
GLADSTONE to cut a halfpenny off Exchequer Bills
—and now he leaps at higher game, and proposes to
pay off certain Three per Cent. liabilities by burrow-
ing money fur the purpose at about two-and-a-half.
the resolutions to be submitted to the House
of Commons for this purpose are twelve in num-
ber. The first of them indicates certain portions of
our public liabilities, which it is proposed to pay off.
They include South Sea Mock, Bank Annuities
(1726) and Three per Cents. (1;51). Everybody will
admit it to be time that all these relics of the days of
South Sea fisheries and State lotteries,—these legacies
of those periwigged monarchs GEORGE L and
GEORGE H., should be got rid of. But whist seek-
ing release from antique ineumbrances, let us take
all our steps wisely, and with the deliberation that
shall secure us from after repentance.
The second of Mr. Gl4os7osffs Resolutions is the
one on which the Parliamentary debate should, and
will, take place. It contains the three propositions
which arc the vital points of the scheme. They
may, perhaps, be briefly characterised in a few words.
The CHANCELLOR of the ExcnEttt:Eit first offers those
public creditors who snap his terms at once—that is,
before the 6th of next month—a nominal 3) per cent.
in exchange for their Threes, giving, however, only
821.105. for the hundred. This really means 2L175.6d.
per cent.—which interest is assured till 1894, and
as such will be accepted by many. aged holders, and
' by others not deeply interested in taking care of
posterity.. On this the nation will save a nominal
221. 10s. in the forty years.—the resolution suggest-
ing that Parliament should take power to deal with
the question of redemption after that date as they
may deem wisest. In the present aspect of the
Money Market there is much room for questioning
this proposal to raise rates to 3) per cent., even on
the terms suggested ; but the diminution of the ca-
pital of the debt involved in the proposition is good.
The second proposition in Resolution 2 is the most
vicious part of the scheme, since it proposes an in-
crease of the capital of the debt. It offers 1101. in a
new Two-and-a-Half per Cent. stock for every 100
in the present Threes. This is equivalent to an offer
of 21. 151. certain, for forty years to come, with ten
pounds down at the end of that period. The pro-
posed transaction might be thus stated :
Present Debt I Prepaid Debt
100. 110.

Yearly charge, 31. I Yearly charge, 21. 15s.
Redeemable at 100. Redeemed at 110.
On the annual payments under the new scheme
there will be • reduction of 3s. per cent. per annum
for forty years, but at the end of that term ten
pounds will have to be paid extra " in a lump," and as '
forty times five shillings is equal to ten pounds—the
scheme is really an increase of the capital of the
national debt, for the mere satisfaction of putting off
five shillings a year on each hundred until 1894,—and
then having to pay it altogether. This seems a
bungle and a mistake, and may surely be removed
from a plan otherwise good.
The third proposition of Resolution 2 is the
gem of the whole project. It is sound and practical,
and will be popular—with the exception of one
point. It proposes the issue of • class of secu-
rities, to be called Exchequer Bonds, pa able to
bearer, and carrying interest at the rate of 21. 16s.
per cent., payable half-yearly, for a period to be
named in such bond. It will be noted that in the 31
and 21 per cent propositions the year 1894 is
named, but in reference to the Exchequer Bonds
a date is to be put into the bond, not
later than 1864, at 21. 15s. per cent. If the
Bonds ate issued to ran to later dates, they are—
aeoording to Mr. GLADSTONE'S plan, to bear only
21. 10s. per cent. and then to be limited to 1894. We
specify this pointedly, because in this, the very best
of all the proposals, in this last limitation, and in the
suggestion that they "be subject to redemption at
par, at the option of the holder or of the 'treasury,
as shall be named in such bond," lurks a weak point.
Into these Exchequer Bonds will inevitably flow a
very large amount of the floating capital of Europe.
In the present state of the Continent, the monied men
hesitate to tako largely any inscribed debt. Not
' knowing what may happen, they want in their
pouches the rash, and with the present character of
English securities—the best at thia moment in the
whole world—men will be only too happy to take
Exchequer Bonds which will be literally Bank notes
bearing interest, for which, when due, it will be only
needful to snip off the CMlpOl4 and get it cashed in
any city in Europe or America. Capitalists, large
and small are sure to welcome such securities—and
all the more readily in these days when men can't