The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

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nee why the approach to the Bagrilille t -
inss
to the one while it is generoual 'men
other. Yet something of As lima. is:invol ' •
the bye-law still nominally 'ln force in4the ,
by which every omnibus " passing through St.
" PanPs-churehyard, whose destination shall be
" London-bridge, shall peas down Cannon-street."
The closingof Cheapaidetoaßomnibuses enteringthe
City by way of the Strand and Fleet-street, had
the effect, it seems, of " reducing the receipts on
" each omnibus to the extent of four pounds per
" week," which probably represents a certain small
daily vexation to some thirty or forty people for
every omnibus thus interfered with. In this cane
the rule has become a dead letter, as the pro-
prietors simply changed the destination of the
omnibuses affected from London-bridge to the
Bank. Others again of the clauses in the pro-
posed Bill were so extremely sweeping as to be
open to immense abuse. For instance, it was
designed to forbid the sale of any article
whatsoever in the streets, a prohibition
which strikes at a branch of trade that
within proper limits is as legitimate as
any of those carried on in shops. Again, no
person was to " in any manner prevent any other
" person from passing him," a rule which, if
strictly applied, would make it necessary for every
heavy carriage to get out of the way of a han-
som cab, as they do out of the way of a fire en-
gine. Again, any one who should " stand, loiter,
"or remain together with any other person or
" persons in any street or footway without rea-
" sonable cause" was equally obnoxious to
the intended law. But who is to de-
cide what is " reasonable cause" ? Is looking into
a shop window, for instance, within or without the
exception—and if the latter, may the offender
plead in his defence that he meant to go in and
buy something ? Or, will some kinds of conver-
sation amount to reasonable cause, and if so, what
kinds, and who is to discriminate between them ?
Or, would the wish to get your money out of a
bank whose shares were at a discount have been
reasonable cause for " standing together with any
" other person or persons " in Lombard-street
the other day, and would it have been necessary
to make this definition clear to the intelligence of
the sitting Alderman, supposing him to have been a
director of the bank in question? These are but
samples of the endless interrogatories to which
such vague rules may give occasion, and the only
moral that can be drawn from the enumeration of
them is that the best maxim for a crowded street
is the old one of " Live and let live."

IT will be remembered that in the panic of 1847,
although a Treasury Letter, relaxing the Act of
1844, was issued, the law was not actually in-
fringed ; but this was not the case in 1857, when
two millions of notes in excess of the legal limit
having been transferred from the issue to the bank-
ing department, and three-fourths of that sum
having been actually parted with by the Bank to
the public, a Bill of Indemnity, exonerating the
parties concerned in the violation of the law,
became necessary, and was duly passed by parlia-
ment. Whether a similar measure will be neces-
sary on the present occasion is not yet known, the
Bank authorities declining to state whether there has
yet been any extra-legal issue. Judging, however,
from the restrictions placed by the Bank upon its
advances, especially on government securities,
and from the speedy reflux to that establishment
of a large portion of the notes which were tempo-
rarily hoarded in the panic at the end of last week,
it is inferred that the law has nut yet been over-
stepped. The weekly Bank return, to be pub-
lished to-night, will show how the matter really
stands. Should an extra issue of notes take place,
the profits upon that issue, as stated in the Treasury
Letter lately published, will go to government.
Otherwise, the Bank will, of course, enjoy the
whole of the profit it is now making out of the
necessities of the mercantile public. It is well
known that panics give the holders of Bank
of England stock largely increased dividends.
We refer to these points in no invidious spirit, but
merely as reflecting the current discussions of the
moment. It cannot excite surprise if the public
are struck by the anomaly of the Bank of England
charging 12 per cent. in the present crisis for ad-
vances upon the best securities in the world—those
of the British government—and the anomaly be-
comes still greater when it is borne in mind that
the securities in question carry only thrtY per cent.
interest, and that the Bank acting thus is itself the
banker to the British government, and has em-
ployed the deposits of the State at this usurious
charge. If, as many persons suspect, the motive
of these restrictive charges is to stave off
borrowers, and prevent, if possible, any issue
of notes beyond the amount fixed by law, the
public will have just ground of complaint, for their
interests must certainly be held superior to those
of the Bank of England. Foreigners are quite
unable to understand how we can tolerate financial
legislation of so utterly defective a character, and
it is to the distrust which naturally attends upon
their inability to comprehend the nature and scope
of our Bank Charter panic that we must attribute
the fact that they insist, for the time, upon taking
gold from us in lieu of bills, the ordinary medium
of remittance.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY. )

AA man
went
metal% q

The Times believes it is justified in smarting that the
officers of the government to whom the duty of repression
is entrusted have aoquired, though by no means too soon, a
_ _ _

competent sequaint4;nos with the real nature of the rinder-
pest, and with the manner of dealing with it. Ireland is
in the happy position of being able to profit from the
calamitous experience of its neighbours. The seat of the
disease and the origin of its infection are neither in the
earth, air, nor water, but in the bodies of the creatures
which it attacks, and the one effective way of dealing with
it is to destroy the infected animal as soon as the infection
has been ascertained. Happily in the present instance
there is no reason to accuse the Irish authorities of any
want of vigilance or promptitude.
If the isolation of the plague-stricken district fails to ex
tinguish the disorder, the T'ekgrapit asks if our authori-
ties should not consider whether they are justified in try-
ing no other remedy than the stamping-out process' It
is asserted that even in Aberdeenshire, the wholesale de-
struction of suspected beasts, and the insulation of in-
fected districts, have failed to obliterate the plague. Again
and again has it broken out, to all appearance, sponta-
neously, and with renewed vigour ; and it has been felt
that, should the compulsory slaughter of infected animals
fail to accomplish the desired object, the authorities may
have to offer premiums for the successful treatment of the
disease.