The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-01 00:00:00

tostanttal proof that Gorman

ye it to be their int
ndanel

should maintain a

est that the
in the East.

Nicolaieff is a second Sebastopol

and that
to Turke

ild be, if anything, a greater menace

e to suppose that,

to the destruction of
the forts on the north side of Sebastopol, they will

to submi

f Odes

a to be rased, and

the dockyards and defences of Nicolaieff to be
demolished ? Such an idea appears to us to be
preposterous; and if these conditions are not
accepted, and really carried into execution, who
can say that we have obtained the terms of an

enduring pe

AIUNTZ

;ht forward his motion for a

ommittee to inquire into the operation of
the present monetary system, and to consider how
far it could be improved and amended, in the
House of Commons on Thursday. The terms
employed by the honourable member in his notice
of motion were perfectly simple and intelligible.
lie merely desired to have the matter investigated
coolly and dispassionately by a competent tribunal.
In this he was supported by Mr. GLYN, a banker,
Mr. SPOONER, a banker, Mr. NEWDEGATE, Mr.
PEACOCK, and Mr. MALINs, gentlemen who are,
one and all, capable of forming sound opinions on
the subject. And yet Mr. MusTz was assailed and
misrepresented in all he advanced, while Mr.
DRUMMOND, with the true animus of a CZAR,
recommended that an inkstand should be put
down the throat of the first man who talked about
our monetary system ! The public will scarcely

Select C

to hear anything more from Mr. HENRY

DRUMMOND, the member for West Surrey, on this
subject affecting trade and the

or a

y other

general well-being of society. The patrons of
" unknown tongues" might well be met with a
laugh out of doors ; but in the deliberative
assemblies of Constitutional countries they ought
to confine themselves to Parliamentary language.
Mr. DRUMMOND probably knows as much of the
currency and monetary system as ho does of
trig."'netrY s
He must, however, be aware
that taxation has increased nearly two-fold
within the last
our monetary syst superadded usury to an
few years, to which
em has
alarming extent, and
ci
although h
inkstands at a profit that
merchantsmeet'
may deal in
and traders
eta and
cannot dispose of their goods tousury, notwithstanding they are
r taxation
to follow
Mr. DP.UMMOND'S example, and thrust tYhe
the throats of their customers. But, We m down
there is no help for that extraordinary pesrvucPl.P. jo
?se
of everything that is English, by which DRUM MONt.s
secure their return to Parliament.

Our business, however, on the present occasion,
lies more with the luminous Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS.
This right h3uourab!e gentleman says that a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons would be unable
to conduct a "a speculative and theoretical inquiry"
into the working of our monetary system. There

is something novel in this doctrine of which we
should beware. If Parliamentary Committees are
not able to enquire into matters on which the very

- --,
existence of the Empire depends, where are we to
go in search ',of tribunals equal to the work? The
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was apprehensive
that the enquiry would extend to the operation of
the Bank Charter Act of 1844. M. MuxTz did
not disguise the fact that his motion asked for an
enquiry into our entire monetary system, in which
that act is the most suspicious and damnatory
feature. But our great financial oracle, though he
had
ernm previouslyent r
de
ne cell\a. rtehde
BtialenkNciihlalirntgenreAsest
oOfft'lB Tie
did not hesitate to say that
this was not the time,
to investigate the operation of that act. Here, it
will be seen, we are to havoen:etmeasure which its
country without
only experi-
authors declared at the
mental, thrust upon the
zacitmhb:ment, he
without an
enquiry as to the practical operati:TY: of
" lative theories" it embodies. A.t o " specu-
opposed the inquiry, because there
demands on the bullion of the Bank Zern great
ment ; and, at another, because the amousnritip. bullion was on the increase ! Mr. MALINR, howof
ever, has put the whole question before the.
country, in a few words. Alluding to this most
arbitrary and objectionable statute, ho said it
~
limited the issue of bank notes to the quantity

"of gold plus 14 millions," and stated that " the
" quantity of gold had diminished in the last six
"months from 18 millions to 10 millions, and
" might, in the next three months, be reduced
" 3,000,000/. more. There would then be left only
" 21,000,000/. of notes, of which the public could
" not do with less than 20,000,0001., leaving only
" 1,000,000/. unemployed ; and he wished to ask,
" under the circumstances, what security would be
" provided that in three months there would not

be a national bankruptcy." It is a matter of
some importance for the public to know what Sir
CORNEWALL LEWIS, and those who share with him
the responsibilities of government, would do to
meet a sudden collapse of the system on which
they rely with such unbounded confidence.
With 1,000,000/. only of unemployed notes, the
Bank of England would be powerless according
to the prevailing monetary theory of the day. Its
bullion " capital," and reserve of notes " capital"
being reduced to such a frightfully low limit,
would leave nothing for it but an immediate sus-
pension of the act of 1844. The Bank would run
no risk, and the Government would be compelled
to take all hazards on their own shoulders, as they
did in the famine year of 1847. The dangers
pointed out by Mr. MALINS are inherent in the
Bank Acts of 1819 and 1844; and an inquiry,
which would have brought these prominently
before the public at a moment of great taxation
and monetary pressure, is what the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER most dreaded, and which Mr.
DRUMMOND would effectually put a stop to by
inkstand down the throat" of an
iian who dared to mention the subject.
however, that Sir C. LEWIS' dread of exposure, 0,
Mr. DRUMMOND'S violence, will not deter the public
from enquiring fully into the practical working of
so important a portion of our fiscal and commer-
cial system, before:th.ey submit to its re-enactment.
The division on Thursday night shows us that the
opposition to our restricted money laws is becom-
ing year by year stronger, and that it is the
question on which Ministrieswill yet be broken up
to make room for honest Financial, and Monetary
Reformers.) It is not possible that such palpable
absurdities, oppression, and injustice as those to
which the mercantile and trading classes are now
exposed, will be suffered ,to go on much longer.
The advocates of bank restriction must have some-
thing more than usury to show as the end of their
theory, and the sole aim of their speculative
crotchets. The people are beginning to under.
stand this 'question, and to loathe its practical
effects. They see it is one of the most abomi-
nable agents of mischief that coul 1 possibly have
been conceived, and where a murmur is now heard
we shall ere long have the masses speaking out
boldly, and with consistency and truth on their
side. Sixty-eight votes on such a ques
tion will not

amming his "

We fea:

is a matter which . be
overlooked by the leaders of Opposition. The
strongest Governments have been overthrown by
their political rivals, with infinitely less numerical
strength, on a given subject of far less importance.
We do not, therefore, despair of seeing the
currency question fairly dealt with, before the
close of the present session. When we have the
names of those who divided on Mr. MuNTz's
motion, we shall be better able to offer suggestions
ou this topic, and point out the actual parlia-
mentarylstrength monetary reformers can bring to
bear upon any future Government.

The London Times of yesterday treated its
readers to one of those rambling and illogical
articles for which it has acquired universal
notoriety on this subject. It says that Mr. MuNTz
and those who think with him, though repeatedly
challenged for the form of the words they would
engrave on their bank note, will certainly carry
the secret with them to the grave. If they have a
proper abhorrence of falsehood, they will certainly
do so ; for they would never " promise to pay" the
notes of any bank in gold if it did not contain a
sovereign for every pound it put into circulation in
paper. The prerogative of creating Legal Tender

they would restore to the Crown, and the notes
issued simply on the security of the State would
contain these words :—" Know all men, that this

-
°'note is legal tender for the sum of ..e
, and is

. _
" receivable in payment of all debts, taxes, and
" duties throughout Her MAJESTY'S dominions,
" pursuant to Act of Parliament, passed in the
"year of the reign of Queen VICTORIA, Cap—Signed,
" CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER." There
would be no delusion whatever about this
and the numbers to be

Bank note,

put into circulation would be regulated, from time
- •

to time, by the Imperial Legislature. Therefore,
there would be no need of resorting to the discre-
tion of bank directors, who, by a mistaken policy,
can at present ruin the merchant, destroy the
trader, and famish our productive industry. The
London Times does not surely pretend to set up
the discretion of the Bank of England against
that of the CROWN, the Executive, and Parliament
in regulating the quantity of money, as well as the
quality, that this vast empire should have, under
any, and all, circumstances ? We cannot, however,
follow our coternporary into all his meanderings at
present, but he must be waxing weak when he
resorts to subterfuge, and impotent when he
employs scurrility and falsehood, to justify the
agonies which the country is now enduring at
the hands of usurers and bullionists, without what
ho contends is " capital !"