The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-18 00:00:00

NAVAL AND

MILITARY INTALIGENCE.

The blockehips at Spithead-the Cprnwallig,
60, Cap.
tarn Wellesley; the Hawk; 60, Capt. Ommanney ; the
Hastings, 60, Capt. Caffin ; the Pembroke, 60, Capt.
Seymour ; and the Russell, 60, Captain Scott-will
leave in a few days, having been ordered yesterday to
prepare for a move. It is conjectured that they
go to Marseilles to help to embark a further French
army of 50,000 men. Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Coch-
rane commenced inspecting them yesterday, and they
are being fast filled up with their full complement of
crew. The Cruiser, 14, Commander the Hon. G. Doug-
las, returned to Spithead yesterday with a large number
of volunteers from Plymouth for these ships.
The Malacca, 17, Captain Farquhar, and the Gorgon, 6,
Commander R. B. Crawford, left Portsmouth yesterday
afternoon for Constantinople, with a convoy of six gun-
boats ; they also conveyed a draught of about 200 Royal
Artillerymen, who arrived yesterday from Woolwich for
Gibraltar to join the Royal Artillery depot there. The
Odin, 16, paddle frigatenaptain Willcox, returned to
Spithead on Tuesday night with the Flamer bomb-vessel,
which she had taken outside the Wight to test ; the re-
sult of the trial was that the whole of the mortars will
be dismounted and sent as cargo in transports, and the
hulls will be ultimately convoyed to the • East by the
Odin. The Lady Eglinton steam-transport steamed into
Portsmouth harbour yesterday morning to disembark
her invalids, consisting of one of the 4th Dragoon
Guards, one of the Grenadier Guards, two of the
Scots Fusileer Guards, three of the Ist Royals, three
of the 4th Foot, three of the 7th, one of the 9th, one of
the 17th, one of the 18th, four of the 20th, four of the
21st, two of the 28th, three of the 33d, one of the
34th, one of the 38th, one of the 41st, two of the 44th,
two of the 46th, one of the 47th, two of the 49th, two of
the 50th, two of the 55th, one of the 62d, one of the 63d,
six of the 77th, four of .the 88th, th,ree of the 89th, one
of the 93d, three of the 97th--in all 74. There were no
bal cases of helplessness ; all, were removed into tempo-
rary quarters at Portsmouth, pending further arrange-
ments.

The Glutton, 16, screw floating-battery, is in No. 1
dry dock, Sheerness. Shipwrights are working at her
bottom, in which many defects in the caulking have
been discovered, which will detain her some time longer
in dock,

The Enterprise, exploring-ship, Captain CoMason,
C. 8., is in the cuter basin, Sheerness ; her crew are
busily employed dismantling her and getting the stores
out, &c. Tuesday or Wednesday next is the day named
for the crew to be paid off.
The Dapper, screw gun-boat, Lieutenant Grant, is
still under the hands of the shipwrights in the Camber
dry dock, Sheerness. Her repairs are fast proceeding
with, and no doubt by the Ist June she will be ready
for sea again.
The Brunswick, 90, screw, will be launched from
Pembroke royal dockyard, on the Ist of June.
To-morrow the brigade of Household infantry will be
inspected on the Horse Guards Parade by Prince Albert
and the Duke of Cambridge.--T-he men will all wear the
new tunin regimentals.
The following appointments and promotions have been
made : _ _ .

Naval Cadets.—Hon. H. G. P. Meare, to the Bos-
cawen ; A. Bloasome, to the Sanspareil ; J. W. Gam-
bier, to the Retribution ; F. Phillips, to the Cornwallis;
R. Moffatt, to the James Watt ; A. Bannatyne, to the
Orion ; T. Campbell, to the Blenheim.
Commander V. A. Massingbred, Commander James
Rawstone, and Commander Thos. Miller, to be Captains.
Lieutenant John Seacombe, Lieutenant E. K. Gore,
and William Artnytage, to be Commanders.
A few days since the 13th Light Dragoons, stationed
at•Dorcbester, were aQsembled to witness the presenta-
tion of a silver medal to one of the sergeants for his dis-
tinguished bravery at the battle of the Alma. The ser-
geant, who lost one of his legs in the engagement, suc-
ceeded by a desperate effort in saving the life of the
commanding officer.
The Kangaroo steamer, which left Cork with troops a
short time since, will return to that port in the course of
next week for another trip. She will take on board
hoi4ies and water.
On Monday five officers and six men from each of the
depots of the 9th, 17th, 39th, and 89th (comprising the
provisional battalion in Limerick garrison) left for Lon-
don, to bo present at the presentation of the Crimean
meda's by the Queen. The officers are, Capt. Newport,
9th ; Captain Earle, 17th ; Captains Wilson and Dick-
son, 39th ; Captain Nixon, 89th. A similar number
has left from all the depots now stationed in Ireland.
A party of 18 men of Captain Boxer's company Royal
Artillery,e mom Woolwich, left Limerick on Tuesday, by
the Erin-go-Bragh steamer, for the forts on the Lower
Shannon, to relieve a like number of that corps, ordered
to Woolwich. Among the party were five young fel-
lows who had returned invalided from before Sebastopol,
where they received bullet wounds which affected their
limbs, but did not incapacitate them from doing duty at
home.

Or about 31. 104. each for a population of fourteen mil.
lions, and 30s. per head for a population of twenty-one
millions. Premising that tt as nature of money used in a
country should be considerk t with reference to the prices
to be expressed—in our ca se combining largo taxation
with natural value—L-the cot itractions we have suffered
in monetary affairs were slit )wn to have arisen from the
attempt of theoretic legislati en to render the bank notes
in circulation strictly confc unable to gold ;—the et-
tempt was described as posi.tively antagonistic with the
fair and just adaptation of :prices to our highly -Sexed
condition in this country, al id as clearly productive of
the commercial or rather monetary panics of 1822, 1825,
1836, 1839, and 1847 ; penises in which the property of
all men engaged iu trade hrsf been for the time of their
prevalence depreciated fully 30 per cent.—a state of
things from which this country is now only delivered by
arrival of metallic treasures from California and Awe
ti alia—which arrivals it was affirmed passed through
Viis country as through a sieve, leaving our monetary
circulation almost as sensitive and fluctuating as it was
before their discovery. Hero illustration was afforded
by reference to the "Bank of England Barometer,"
recently published by Letts, which Mr. Knott stated
should be consulted by all persons likely to be affected
by the fullness or scarcity mf money. The fact that
we never had in this country a period of sustained
remuneration in price when the Bank of Eng-
land note circulation was materially under 24 millions,
was placeA in comparison _with the much longer period
during which the commercial interests of this country
,have been struggling with a sum under, rather than over,
20 millions, and this under Oats action of the Bank screw
—applied as it was— as the inevitable law of the existing
system, to check the departure of gold in 1853—that is to
say, to force down the prices of' this country so as to
render them cheaper for exportation than the gold neces-
sary to the convertibility of our paper money. The
action of this strange operation was shown by references,
to questions and answers of the governor and deputy-
governor of the Bank of England, via occasion of the
Commons' committee on commercial distress in 1848.
The answers adduced were those numbered 3,278 to
3,283 inclusive. The act of 1819 was declared to have
proceeded on the egregious error of Mr. Ricardo and
others, that its operation would not diminish
prices -more than three or four per cent., while
it was soon admitted that by the fall in prices
it had aggravated the national debt and taxation
30 per cent., as proved by silver coins of that period,
produced by Mr. Knott, and showing that full difference
between the intrinsic value of the coinage as at that
time and at the present. Prices it was affirmed had
been reduced as much as the currency was appreciated.
No wonder, therefore, it was remarked, that the princi-
ple of the act of 1819 had, of necessity, been mitigated
in the years '22, '25, and '36 ; that this country had
never enjoyed a prosperity except in periods of its prac-
tical suspension ; and no wonder that when, by the mis-
chievous legislation of 1844, it was rendered an inflexible
reality, it gradually prepared the way for the terrific
panic of 1847. The attempt at gold convertibility was
shown in figures to be a mere fiction unworthy a great
nation like this. The attempt to erect the measure of
value of gold into a standard of value was denounced as
fraught with the depression of honest, but smaller capi-
talists, and with the comparative misery too manifest in
the working classes. Here a passage of a speech of
Lord J. Russell in the House of Commons in the year
1844 was read, in which he showed that, com-
pared with the last century, there had been a deplorable
diminution of the comforts and social condition of the
labouring classes, while luxury had overspread the mote
wealthy portion of the population. A comparison was
drawn between the effect of the system of money which,
with all its defects, nourished industry during the long
European war, and that which now exists under conver-
tihility at a fixed price of gold. The seventy millions of
taxation paid cheerfully by a population rising to four-
teen millions only, was contrasted with the fretlulness
felt at a similar extent of taxation at this time, while the
seventy millions of loan during some years of the war
was adduced in proof of the prosperity afforded by the
monetary system of that day. It was alleged that this
action is essentially one to be fostered by credit ; that
credit is, in fact, a proper consequent of civilisation,
while it appears to be the object of some modern
statesmen to force us back to a condition of barter
and to disallow the working of our mines of coal,
iron, and lead—our milli and our machinery—in the
arts of life, unless we can first measure our operations
by the presence of a metal of foreign production. The
effect of panics was illustrated by the case of an indivi-
dual who he would suppose had embarked a sum of capi-
tal, partly borrowed, say of 10,0001., in a business con-
sisting of plant, stock, and debts ; that, no ing upon the
spirit of this commercial age—engendered by large capi-
talists—of small profits and quick returns, he had in-
curred a liability to the extent of some 20,0001. or 25,000/,
per annum, and was suddenly brought under the influ-
encet of one of our periodical panics. His banker, under
the pressure and alarm he felt, had unwillingly come to
the determination of diminishing the scale of his accom-
modation to customers, and declined to discount in con-
did not exceed the usual dates of his trade. Rather
tinuance the ordinary paper of this tradesman, which
than resort to the Jew, and wrong his creditors
under usury, he stopped payment. His assets at once
became depreciated 30 per cent. ; and where was his
capital ? It had • totally disappeared: He appealed to
his creditors ; they offered to accept 15s. in the pound.
His friends, sufferers already, dare not come forward
with the requisite security or means—arrangement could
not be effected—ruin succeeded, and in the midst of
panic, bankruptcy wound up with a dividend small, in-
deed. This, it was observed, was a type of a deserving
and middle class or tradesman ; and on this class was
our monetary system now telling at the prompt mo-
ment, notwithstanding the Bank of England screw had
brought back three millions of gold to her coffers. The
increase from twelve millions had notenabled the pro-
ducers of the country to enjoy more than the addition
of. a "million to the circulation of Bank of England
paper ; each million of which withdrawn, or added to,
involved the destination or fate of the several millions
of bills of exchange they sustained. Mr. Knott said
he was not there to propose a substitute for the pre-
sent system ;—that end might be effected in more
ways than one. But he would say this much, with
confidence : Gold is mainly valuable to us in our fo-
reign exchange. Why not, then, at once solve the
difficulty by carrying out honestly and consistently the
principle of free trade, putting gold at its market price
in a suitable, sound, and sufficient paper money of the
realm, limited by Parliament, and receivable in taxes I
aydonuee
existingdasri
rri
present
enbdhy utsyot I : tyessaatel are:er
system we
ovsocneuhf
emwtoahciuntei
see
alleviationsnesy witness
eslsytttehefmi
nee
de
those who
haweasl tihan,dev induced:rpuearslnadpdde produce
:hot
uieuomruseer tdwo ,
eeaanl
prices,Httaehoireif
He concluded by observing that it was the oppression
into explanations like this, and this because under the
day's wage for a fair day's work," without plunging the
liberal employer and capitalist himself into bankruptcy.
At the conclusion, Mr. T. H. SMITH put some quese
tions to Mr. Knott, and particularly as to the working
of the proposed system in preventing imprudence. It
was replied that no legislation could prevent imprudence,
COLONIAL. and that it carried its own punishment and correction.
,Tee..—At the public sales common green has sold
Mr. WRIGHT observed, that if Mr. Smith's questions
heavily, but good qualities at previous rates. Conon implied that the present system tended to prevent im-
privately has been in request at 84d to Bid for common. prudence, it should be considered that it was calculated
SUGAR.—The market for _British plantation has been to create imprudence and foster speculation—rendering
, attainable; thus reducing commerce to a system of
active, and rather fuller prices have been obtained. At money at one time a drug, and at another almost un-
ne.gx.reeeN said he had listened with great attention
gtmeao—m:Mberl.ori: the very important contrast he had drawn be-
. Knott's remarks, and wished he had dwelt
auction Barbadoes soldaatt3369ssto6d3t7os 460sd
for6d nifeirdfinauedyealtlo3w3s
at 38s to 395 for good,
to 355 e 1 for low Demerara. Crystalised realised 42s for
with those dur-
good. East India—Native Madras brought 28s 6cl to 31s,
into of 18
the 4 4, e
uwhhj ;eel ito,
npaedrem:etaetnee admitted
and ord to good yellow. 32s per cwt. Bengal, low to good
white, sold at 37s to 39s 6d. Very little has been brought
forward. Mauritius has ruled firm ; fine yellow brought twoen the proportions of currency now,
suchthat etnhoermLoegusielflatuacrteuaahtieounlsdi
ben trheeq
requested
ea
el
tueedo ftam
381 6d to 395, ord to good ord Us 6d to 38s, brown 30s to ing the war ; that he had long been :convinced that some
348, refining 32s to 335, and crystalised. 38s to 42s 6d garfteeart deeefteecrtinegxiastteederainetlheengatcht
' 'nt ) the working of the act.
per cwt.
FOREIGN.—A cargo of Pernambuco went privately at
25s 6e. Havannah afloat realised 21s 7id for No. 11, andinstiYt:te and
a cargo of No. 13 235, both for the United Kingdom. Ma-
nilla at auction sold at 35s to 36s for clayed, and at 31s 6d.
to 34s 6d for damp and washed, being rather advanced Mr. WRIGHT replied that Parliamentary inquiry had
rates. Refined brown lumps have been in request at 46s 6d, already been made, and in vain ;—that the inquiry in
47s 6d per cwt. *
inquiry i
and grocery at 47s to 52s per cwt.. 1848 after the panic, when he was examined, had pro-
COFFEE.--liolders ask high prices, and the market is duced a large blue book, which no one read ;—that the
very dull in consequence. Phrtation Ceylon partly sold Report of the Lords' Committee was indeed a most Oa-
at 67s 6d to 85s fer good to tine, at 56s to 61s 64 for flee borate and excellent
ord to low mid, and at 503 to 555 6d for triage. Good ordone, declaring that the act of
1844 had produced the panic of 1847, and that, if
it had not been suspended, the Bank of England itself
Rim—Full prices are curre wentut the purchases are
limited. Yellow bold Bengel publicly at its 2d per would have stopped payment ; that in the Commons, on
native Ceylon has been supported at 47s to
per cwt. . the other hand, it had been contrived that the Commit-
Snions:s—Pimento has sold steadilyat 44d to 5d ands d. tee should in the majority consist of the originators of
Sound Malabar brought 40, and first class damaged 421 d. the act, including Sir R. Peel himself, who passed a vote
Annowaom—St. Vincent's brought 4id to 50, and that it was not expedient to make any alteration in the
Jamaica 34d to 5d per lb. of Parliament
act . that the reports of the two Houses
Ruse.—East India is dearer, tofug 2s iid por gallon. thus' e r lanother, legislation bad been
. n ut a 'sing one
SALTPETRE.—BengaI at auction was taken in at 26s 6d Lords' report, however,
to 27s for 61 to 7 per cent. refraction, and Bombay at avoided altogether ; that the
manual
it deserved to be the .
21s 6d for 28 per cent. remained a great fact—that of it
and that a useful abstract .
Irensese.—The public sales have progressed with spirit, of all currency reformers,
Reform Associa-
Kurpahs being 2d to 3d dearer than last week. Good had been published by the Currency
Madras has realised 3d to 4d advance. Up
to
last eveningtion.
ort of the Commons,
9,610 chests passed, of which 5,033 were sold. Mr. KNOTT added, that the rep .
teeth of the
TALLOW.—This article has been depressed, and P. Y. C. drawn* • ‘defiance of truth, and in the
up in . . he Legislature.
on the spot is about ns 6d per cwt.t discredit to te .
GREEN FRIIIT.—The backward state of vegetation i
, . • evidence, Wes a grea
estions, to which Mr. Knott
n , Mr BEAsLY put some qu
this country improves the demand for Foreign Oranges of .
sound condition and sustains their A. 'replied.
issoN inquired as to the effect of the pro-
Electrie Flash front St. Michael's, sold by cargo Keeling Letti. Mr. Tomei
in case of scarcity and war ; when Mr.
Hunt, at public sale, went at an advance of 2s and 3s per posed system
showed that the system he suggested would be
package. Nuts of all kinds in better` demand: Lemons Knott
1 both made and-that the gold, at. presentlocked
I dull; the cold weather interfering with the confectionery , bettera m
tic
ciro,
don being net at liberty, proTiaioi
' trade, o eis
up in
e