Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-07 00:00:00

standard of immutable legislation. The Cur-
rency Bill of 1819 made England a cripple. The
Bank Charter Act of 1844 has Tendered her as
powerless as a dolt. Lord OVERSTONE has die-
covered this, and he warns us of danger. He
evidently anticipates the demise of his wicked
son and silly daughter. His political offspring
have passed from his fond parental grasp. They
now threaten to depart from his sight. What a
moment of anguish the loss of the Bill of 1819
would be to its Bullionist father ! No ten per
cent. Peer could survive the death of the cripple
of 1844. Can Mr. DISRAELI really mean to
slaughter the decrepid and imbecile ? How long
are we to wait for an answer to this question ?
Another week of the ten per cent.- panic may
crumble to -atoms" all the modern bulwarks of
commerce. Another week may lead to thousands
of deaths from starvation.
These facts are known to both Peers and Com-
mons. Those who say that the sitting of the
Senate will give us increased money means, must
be mad, 'They cannot expect, however, to be
believed -by others. Indemnifying a body of
Bank Directors, for obeying au order of the Exe-
cutive, will not add one sixpence to our circulat-
ing medium. Parliament may be deceived by
plausible debating, but the mercantile men of the
North will not. The crisis has fallen heaviest
on the mining, manufacturing, and maritime dis-
tricts. This is proved by the speeches delivered
in the House of Lords. Lancashire has suf-
fered more, if anything, than Yorkshire.
The reason is obvious. The Londc,n
Times explains the cause fully. " Lanca-
shire has dispensed with banks of issue.
The circulation of this county is confined to the
notes of the Bank of England." We surely
need no further information to show how Lan-
cashire suffers when panics prevail. The Bank
of England sees, or pretends to see, danger
first. The Directors contract their active circu-
lation, and Lancashire is left without money.
The London Times ought not to have reminded
the manufacturing districts of this fact. Lord
OVERSTONE will discover the stupidity of the
thing. • We rather like such admission. Still
the material interests of the Bullionists ought
not to be betrayed by their servants. Shame on
such immorality. Bat slips, like other misfor-
tunes come in crowds. Our cotemporary, in an
effort to gull the trader intolhis faith, enlightens
the merchants, In showing the former how to
get a cheap plumb, he proves to the latter how
coolly be is robbed The plot is deep enough for
a five act tragedy. We regret that anything
should compel us to depart from the new " tele-
' gram" style of composition. We must,
however, do so, to giv'e the reader a quotation
from our cotemporary's City Article of Friday.
We will, therefore, select those passages which
are to the point and readable.

Where to begin is the question ! It is
awkard to commence with the end of a romance.
It makes one acquainted with its hero just as he

rary always closes his twaddle in a paroxism of
affected earnestness. In the present instance,
the effect is really good. "The worst fallacy of
all," says our great luminary, "is that of treating
the internal results of panic, as something invol
ving unqualified evil to the community, and
therefore such as to demand the intervention of
the government in the name of the people at
large to avert ruin and loss. An internal panic
is simply a violent convulsion in which one party
make tremendous losses and another party enor-
mous gains." There is a noble animus disclosed
here ! Violent convulsions are to be resorted to
to involve one class of traders in tremendous
losses, that another pasty may net enormous
gains ! Is this fair trade ? Can the

Imperial Parliament have forsaken their
oaths to protect all ? But here our gallant knight
ingeniously parrys his own spear. He says :
': It is very undeirable that such events should
happen, but the way to cure them is not by
interfering to shift the consequences from the
right to the wrong shoulders." What is right
or wrong in a panic ? The law which produces
the social earthquake, or its victims ? We trust
the popular voice will never be left to solve this
problenh Allowing the present "lesson to work
its natural result" would speedily force this
danger on England.

Meanwhile the London Times informs u that
0 for years past the public, and all persons with
fixed incomes, have been paying 10 or 20 per
cent. extra for the various necessaries of life on
account of an inirdinate speculation, which has
driven up prices in all foreign markets, to the
great advantage of the foreign producer, at the
cost of the English consumer. A. crash has come
at last, in which these things would have tumbled
to a point ruinous to the speculative importer, ut
highly beneficial to the purchaser, and especially
so to the. small and prulent capitalist, who,
driven out of trade by the previous dishonest
competition, might now come in and make some
excellent investments that would go far to com-
pensate him for the past." Is this the language of
a great commercial country ? Such, manifestly,
are the principles its c, leading" organ advocates.
Gentlemen with fixed incomes, who could -not
afford suppers last year, are to have an extra
meal of beef-stakes and onions fur nothing after
a panic. "Previous dishonest speculation" on
the part of the butcher awl green-grocer must
give place to some " excellent investments,"
which are to "go far to compensate" the lovers
of hot suppers " for the past.,' The " public and
all persons with fixed incomes," our respected
compositors, for instance, know how to appreciate

this promise. But let the importing and export-
ing merchant beware. The avowed object of the
commercial law, as now based upon gold, is to
feed " all persons with fixed incomes" at a loss of
10 or 20 per cent. to the merchant and tradesman !
Commerce is no longer a normal element of
national existence. We must no longer look to
it as the sun which ripens and brings the great
harvest of man's industry to maturity. It is a
drawing-room pursuit, upon which Fiddle-faddle
is to feed at a fixed expenditure. Nothing can
alter this.

The London Times declares that " the value
of gold depends solely on its scarcity, and hence
just in proportion as the quantity is increased
there is a depreciation in the value of that
which previously existed. If the total of gold
in the world were doubled to-morrow the
wealth of the world would not be augmented
a single pound. The goods which could be
purchased with one sovereign to-day would then
be procurable only a cost of two sovereigns."
Here our cotemporary is quite right. The value
of yellow metal depends on its scarcity ; and
strange to say, we have placed a low fixed price
upon it, to make it unnaturally scarce. This pre-
vents" all persons with fixed incomes," from getting
two sovereigns to go to market with when prices
rise. Still, against this gross injustice, we may
set this piece of consolation. "If half the gold
now in our possession," says one Bullion oracle,
" were swept away, the nation, as a nation, would
would not be poorer, because then every half-
sovereign would do duty for a sovereign. If this
rule holds good with regard to gold, of course it
is equally applicable to paper purporting to
represent gold." This is precisely what we say.
We contend that the purchasing power of gold
will always . equalise itself. Leave it to rise and
fall, as we do, or rather ought to leave every
other commodity, and let all those with fixed
incomes reap the benefit of the change which
makes the half equal to a whole sovereign. " The
nation, as a nation," would lose nothing by this
Free Trade in gold. That paltry clique of money
vampires, the London Times represents, would
alone suffer. No panics could occur, if; as prices
rose, our stock of bullion on hand was known to
be rising in the same proportion. If every half-
sovereign would purchase as much, at home and
abroad, as a sovereign last year, would this give
the foreign producer "a great advantage, at the
cost of the English consumer 2" Our Bu lion
friends say and prove a little too much. They
are caught, in fact, in one of their own whirl..
winds, in full bloomer costume. They cannot
pass through the tempest without betraying their
feeble gender and good old age. But let Parlia-
ment remember that the inevitable end of 10 per
cent. is national bankruptcy. The country is
only waiting to see what the Legislature will
propose as a measure of relief to trade. All that
has been done, as yet, is to attempt to justify the
existing state of industry, trade, and commerce.
In the meantime 10 per cent is " crEealAciriff
.1.1C4l• MO
Scotland, with their innumerable shareholders,
and legitimate mercantile customers. If this
design be not frustrated without a moment's
delay the consequences of another week's
trifling must be terrible in the extreme. No
amount of sophistry can prevent this. Let all
classes, then, prepare for the worst.' An imme-
diate issue of 20,000,0001. of one pound legal ten-
der notes is required to save the country from a
season of social and political horrors too fearful
to contemplate. A short Act would give us this
relief. Long speeches are all rubbish. Does
Mr. DISRAELI see this, and will his party follow
up his and Lord DERBY'S blows ?

PUBLIC ANIUSEHENTS.

SATURDAY EVENING C3NCERT3 AT ST. GEORGE'S HALL.

On Saturday evening was one of the most successful of
the present series, so far as a numerous and re;peclahle
auditory was.concerned. The building was well filled in
nil is parts, end every one appeared as enthueiastic as
on the " Inauguration Night," when Mr. Reynolds com-
menced V- is class of concerts in S'. George's Hall. The
entertainments now produced are entirely of a different
nature to those of the former season, which, in conjunc-
tion with other fa/mumble circumstances, have combined
to render these " Saturday evening re-unions" the most
attractive of any that have been held in the kingdom.
On the (ironing of last Saturday the " Hungarian Band,"
consisting of about fourteen performers, put forth their
claims for the patronage of " the People," and were
eminently successful in all their pieces, if one may
judge from the applause and repeated encores during the
evening. The programme opened with Auber's Over.
tore to "Masaniello," very sparklingly played by the
entire band; and the "Bobbing Around" Quadrille went
off most enthusiastically, being re-demanded with the
greatest vehemence, indeed, the whole performances of
the "Hungarians" was of that quick, light, noisy nature
which has now become popular in this country, and
which are so well adapted to fill the vastness of the
extensive bulking. Miss Armstrong' was the only vocal
wrforrner of the night, but is evidently young at her
profession, and has much to learn. In "Welemae my
bonnie lad," many of her notes were badly sustained,
and of a thin wiry expression, although, upon the whole,
she appeared to give tolerable satisfaction to the large
au Hence assembled. " John Anderson, ray Joe," was her
best performance. On Saturday evening next the same
company will appear, when the profits of the evening
are to be given in aid of the funds of the District
Provident Society, and Mr. 'W. T. Best has offered his
gratuitous services on the occasion, when he will per-
form two Fantasias on the grand organ. To assist one
of the most benevolent institutions of our town, and give
effect to the really praiseworthy intentions of Mr. Hime,
at a period when charitable societies require all the sup-
port that can possibly be given, we hope the public will
cheerfully respond.

THE RING OF Dz. ut—Just added to Allsop's Royal
Wax Work Exhibition, lime-street, Liverpool, modelled
from a sett' taken in the City of
Tug ADRIATIC.—A reference to our r.dvertiqng columns
will inform our readers that a visit to this new and beauti-
ful vessel may be made to-day, and to-morrow, through the
kindness of Captain West, who fias granted permis-
sion for the public to view it during that period. A steamer
leaves the Landing Stage from 9 4,M. LA 4 p.m., for the
conveyance of visitors.