The Express.
London, England, 1857-12-07 00:00:00

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NEARLY IPIPIE7II.IIIII.IIHrd in business has found
his an:emits fie sine may affected by the recent finan-
aal conwasise. The effects of the state of the
money market have been brought home to every
mane door. For this reason the debate on the
currency question of Friday night has attracted
universal attention. The lucidity, judgment, and
absence of prejudice displayed in the remarks of Sir
0. C. Lewhi have raised him greatly in the
estimation of the commercial world. But, whilst
paying the CH OirELLOR of the EXCHEQUER this
well-deserved tribute, we cannot refrain from
expressing disappointment at the narrowness
of the point of view from which, if we may
judge from the general symptoms of parliamentary
acquiescence, this momentous currency question is
doomed to be regarded practically. The Bank
Charter Act is irretrievably damaged ; all its prestige
is utterly gone ; for twice have Government been
compelled to authorise the Bank to drive with loose
rein through the most important of its provisions.
Yet scarcely any one member of Parliament was
bold enough to call in question the utility of a law
which upon each occasion of trial has been had
migoally wanting; all parties were apparently
agreed that, though repeatedly set at naught,
it is still to be maintained. Ministers isolate
that they are not prepared to being !meg
any proposition beyond that merely Memel ewe,
the Bill of Indemnity; and the quotas= sots.
ally mind are restricted to these—First, is a Telesis,/
power to be es grafted on the Act ? and, secondly, is
the Committee of Inquiry of list session to be re.
appointed? We will not stop, here to ask
whether it is owing to defects in oar representative
system that the House of Commons thus tamely
follow, like a dock of sheep, the few speakers who la
that numerous assembly are alone deemed competent
to grapple with this important subject; although
this result is, in our opinion, clearly attributable to
the fact that the commercial element is utterly
subordinated to the legal, military, bureaucratic, and
landowning interests, whose representatives consti-
tute the great majority of the }loose ; many of
whom know about as much of the practical working
of our currency system as they do of Hebrew. Pawnsg
by this point far the present, however, it is instructive
to glance at the evidence afforded on every side that
men who have hitherto been steadfast believers is
the virtue of the Bank Charter Act are grievously
shaken in their creed, now that they have had sash
an excellent opportunity of observing its mode of
action. Lord Jons RUSSELL, foe instance, whilst
somewhat guardedly agreeing in the general prin-
ciples of the Act, confines himself to • vague ream- I
mendation that it should be tried for ten
years more. From his mentioning this period it is
fair to assume that his lordship entertains • mis-
giving that the termination of another decode will
find the Act again in • state of suspension. Can the
united intelligence of the country suggest nothing
better in the shape of • monetary law than one
which is only made to be abrogated ? Is not Eng-
land going through a solemn mockery in the sight
of nations when she re-enacts a law which is to be
violently broken through as soon as its pre sure is
felt ?

One of the most important and fortunate results
of the late crisis is the general acknowledg-
ment that the Am ham had • fair trial ; in
only one quarter is • &operate assertion to
the contrary ventured upon. In 1647 the supporters
of the Act threw blame upon the Bank Directors,
who, they contended, had not tarried out the prin-
ciples of the eyries in their integrity. In 1837,
however, everybody concurs in praising the calm-
am, tamper., and judgment which the administra-
tors of the Rank have evinced throughout the crisis.
And so patiently did the mercantile community bear
the daily increasing pressure, that, is the CHANCIII.-
We of the Excneutea expressly declares, Ministers
suspended the Act solely on their own responsibility,
enuolicited by deputations or by the Bank Directors.
Yet to what a pass had affairs arrived whilst the
commanity were displaying such exemplary
patience and fortitude' We have not been back-
ward is drawing attention to the perilous position of
lnaneial matters, and in urging the instant adoption
el the only possible preventative of a general crash ;
tut it any justifestion of our conduct be needed, it is'
afforded by the deliberate remarks of Sir 0. C.'
liEwts. Though speaking with& degree of restraint
which seem& well with the still unsettled state of the
public mind, the CH \,141,1.11.11 of the Eichorn ea
points set that there was a " general cessation of all
"dlsorrantiog, except by the Bank of England," that
the total mane of notes held by the Bank—the i
"only establishment in London at which discounts
" could take pace,"—on the day before that on
which the Treasury Letter was issued was
less than • million, this being the sole fund
out of which the Bank could meet the claims of
depositors (taking only the "other" deposits, to
the amount of thirteen millions ; and that under
the regular operation of the law, the Bank " mese.
"at the time when the letter was issued, have
" entirely stopped their diaconate." Let our renders
imagine the consequences, remembering that every
other monied establishment had previously omeni
discounting. let them imagine a universal sespow
Am et mercantile payments throughout the esemtsy.
d log of the public upon every deposit-holding teak
is the kingdom, • consequent rush of the London
joint-stock banks to draw out their enormous deposits
in the Bank of England, and the stoppers of the
Bask of England Welt; for how weld
that establishment pay its deposits' Let
thus then imagine a rush for gold in Scotland, Ir•-