The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-22 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1855.

wards the Guardians of the National Purse, or
that he had not deliberately violated the under-
standing on which the vote of one and three-
quarters millions of pounds sterling was sanctioned
by Parliament. If circumstances occurred to in-
duce him to change his determination—if he
found himself obliged to alter the character of the
transaction—and to make that which in its in-
ception was, properly speaking, " a Supply Exche-
quer Bill," " a debt permanent in itself, but the
obligation of which is renewable from year to
year," he should have distinctly stated that reso-
lution, and obtained the assent of Parliament to
the departure from the honourable compact !
He did not, however, do so—the best proof
whereof is, that gentlemen on both sides of the
House were entirely misled on the subject—a
delusion increased by the Royal Speech at the
close of the session, to which it may be presumed
that Mr. GLADSTONE was an assenting party :
" I fully recognise your wisdom in sacrificinn consi-
derations of nresert convenience, and in providing for
the exigencies of the war, without an addition being
made to the permanent debt of the country."
Those very terms had keen discussed in the
presence of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and, con-
sidering the opinions he had previously given ex-
pression to, it was scarcely justifiable to permit
his Royal Mistress to make an incorrect and
erroneous statement to the House.
Mr. Wasoie spoke
plausibly of the " misrepre-
sentations" of those by whom the subject was
introduced, and endeavoured to show a bold
attempt, as he himself admitted it to be,
that " the expenses of last year had been defrayed
by the growing produce of the country, without
one shilling being added to the nationaldebt." The
House was, however, manifestly dissatisfied with
the system of Exchequer " thimble-rigging" so
long iu operation. Mr. GLADSTONE had himself
explained some of the delusions habitually prac-
tised, and the secret once revealed, the trick be-
comes "stale and unprofitable."
Nor will the " blowing hot and cold" by diffe-
rent members of the same Government bo longer
tolerated. Mr. GLADSTONE, in March, 1854,
clearly and distinctly proved that the Unfunded
Debt is to all intents and purposes a permanent
liability, although " the obligation is renewable
from year to year." Mr. J. WILSON, as a subor-
dinate Member of the Administration, yielded a
tacit assent to the principle, and he cannot now
argue that these Exchequer Bills or Bonds (for ho
places both in the same category) are raised simply
in anticipation of supplies. The time has gone
by when such a system could prove successful.
Mr. GLADSTONE attempted, with considerable
ingenuity, to shirk the real question, and to ride
off on a collateral issue. Speaking of an acknow-
ledged excess of expenditure over the sum to be
raised by taxes, he says—" Surely, in time of war,
an excess of 2,000,0001. is not a discreditable ac-
count to present !" Possibly not ; but that was
not the point in dispute. The substantial issue
was, whether the engagement entered into by the
right honourable gentleman with the House, in
reference to the sum of 1,750,0001., had been
faithfully observed or not ; and on that there
could be no dispute. Lord MONTEAGLE had, in
his correspondence with Mr. GLADSTONE, set that
matter completely at rest, convicting him, not ou
the evidence of hostile or prejudiced witnesses,
but convicting him out of his own mouth. In his
speech of the 6th of March, Mr. GLADSTONE care-
fully explained the distinction between the
Exchequer Bills usually in circulation and
the 1,750,0001. worth which he then asked
the authority to issue. Re said—" These bills
for 1,750,0001. axe what other bills falsely pur-
port to be. They are Supply Exchequer-bills.
The mass of Unfunded Debt still passes by the
name of Supply Exchequer-bills, though they have
ceased to have any reference to supply at all, and,
in fact, constitutes a debt which is permanent in
itself, but the obligation of which is renewable
from year to )-ear. 'When, vealrunfor 41.-
regular 02ssionat Act, au ttiority to raise so many
millions by Exchequer-hills, you do it with a view
of replacing them as they become duo by other
Exchequer-bills. Bat these are Exchequer-bills
quite of a different class. These are to be raised
simply in anticipation of supplies, for which you
will have given authority ; and when the supplies
come in, these Exchequer-bills will be paid off out
of these supplies, and no more will be heard of
them."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has exercised
a sound discretion in abandoning the Newspaper
Stamp Bill introduced by his predecessor in office.
No amount of alteration could have rendered that
ill-advised and impolitic measure acceptable either
to journalists or to the community at large. There
can be no doubt that which he has brought for-
ward is a very decided improvement. Oar praise
must, however, be of a negative character. We
speak of the proposition now brought forward
rather in reference to that for which it is a suls-
stitute than on its own intrinsic merits. The
chief point is that the Financial Minister, at a time
when he must find it exceedingly difficult to make
both ends meet—when it will be a task of no
ordinary labour to provide for the indispensable
demands on the national exchequer—thinks
,„„„ in wilaf. LimaPlF arlp,;4-<, 11
i:uzuuii 4 to at. rat. 200,0001. per annum, but
which is returned by competent authority at fully
250,0001. If any great object were to be at-
tained—if the respectability, or efficiency, or
liberty of the Fourth Estate were to be in any
Way improved by the alteration it would be
cheaply purchased even at that price ; but when
it appears, to those best qualified to form a cor-
rect judgment on the question at issue, that its
tendency will be altogether the other way—when
the great mass of the people are perfectly satisfied
with the existing state of affairs—we must say
that the Right Honourable Baronet would have
been more than justified in postponing the in-
teresting and important question to a future day,
so that it might in the interim be strictly investi-
gated and maturely considered in all its varied
details. The present sacrifice of revenue appears
to be gratuitous and uncalled for.
With all submission to Sir G. C. LEWIS we must
protest against his assumption that "it is not a
question whether 200,0001. shall or shall not be
retained, but that it is, rather whether a crusade
shall be entered into against a large proportion of
the existing newspaper press, for the sake of en-
forcing a law which cannot be enforced by means
of the verdicts of juries, which are somewhat
doubtful in their results !" There is not, we con-
tend, the slightest necessity for persecuting class
periodicals. The prosecution of the " Household
Narrative," which never should have commenced,
failed, not from any unwillingness on the part of
a jury to convict, if a fair case had been made
out for a verdict against the defendant. A majo-
rity of the Judges before whom the question was
argued concurred in that verdict, and held that
there had been no violation of the law. If the
cases are properly selected, we venture to assert
that there will be no difficulty on the part
of the juries. But they will not, and we
honour them for the resolution—suffer themselves
to be made tools of—to strain the law beyond its
fair interpretation, or convert it into traps for
the unwary.
The second- reading of the Bill is fixed for
Monday next. We trust that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, who has already se far yielded to
the voice of public opinion,
will make a further
concession, and agree to the withdrawal of the
Bill until a time when its provisions can be more
maturely considered, and the pecuniary sacrifices
can be better spared.

The financial phenomenon and his quondura
"fidus achates"—cc that able, faithful) aria care-
ful public servant," Mr. JAMES WILSON, have had
the desired opportunity of replying'to the. charges
originally brought forward in the Upper House
by Lord MONTEAOLE, and last repeated by the
nonourable Baronet the member for Evesham in
the Commons. Notwithstanding the well-known
ingenuity of these gentlemen, and their profici-
ency in the art denominated " rigmarole," they
were utterly unable to explain, satisfactorily, the
addition of 1,750,000/. to the permanent floating
debt, which had been granted on the express
understanding that it was to be defrayed
out of the accruing revenue of the coun-
-BY. y,Wi‘h all the casuistry and special
7<ghWilitn. jg
of the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer
;the was unable to show that he had -acted in a
Ondid, explicit, and straightforward- manlier to-

Now, they have again been heard of. They
are to be replaced as they come due by other
Exchequer-bills. They have not been paid out
of the growing produce of the revenue.
The fund that was specifically hypothecated for
their redemption, viz., the first half year's amount
of the augmented Income Tax has been received,
but it has been otherwise applied, and they are
still outstanding, an addition to the " permanent
floating debt of the country."
This course, so destructive of confidence in
public men, has been justly complained of, and it
is for the representatives of a commercial nation
to give expression to such opinions thereon as
may prevent the possibility of any recurrence of
similar transactions. It has been adopted, too,
to bolster up and sustain an untenable policy.
Mr. GLADSTONE attempted to make the present
generation bear the entire expenses of the War.
It was literally impossible that it could be so.
But rather than candidly acknowledge his error,
rather than admit his mistake, he suffered him-
self to be betrayed into a course by no means
calculated to enhance the reputation of the Fi-
nancial Minister cf a commercial nation—a nation
that especially prides itself on the good faith
which it observes towards all persons having
claims on its resources.

Miiii~ir

Savoy.

MARCH 22, 1855.
THE SUN, LOND9N, THURSDAY ,EVENIN-Q,,

LATEST NEWS.

We have received the following telegraphic des-
patches from Berlin :

BERLIN, MARCH 21.

Adviees from St. Petersburg of this day's date
state that the following despatch had been reeeive,a
from General Osten-Sacken

In the night between the 10th and 11th we
erected a new redoubt about 300 yards in front of
the Korniloff Bastion.

Our works were carried on with success.
The Preussische Correspondenz contradicts the
statement in the Paris Moniteur that the language
held by M. von Bismark SchoAlmusen had either
been disavowed or censured.

The Prussian Government, adds the semi-official
journal, maintains, as regards Cabinets not Ger-
man, the principle that the attitude assumed by
the envoys of the German Powers inside the

Germanic Diet is a matter of internal concern

Consequently, it would consider it improper to
accept any criticism on the matter, and still more

to enter into any controversy with respect to it.
On the other hand, the Prussian Legations at
the German Courts have received the necessary
instructions for combating the erroneous assertion,
though circulated by official publications, that M.
de Bismark had stated or even hinted at the pro-
positions indicated in an article in the Moniteur
Franc( is. In fact, these propositions were never
in any way the intentions of the Government."

We have received the following telegraphic de
spatches from Vienna :

VIENNA, MARCH 21.

The Oesterreichische Correspondenz publishes ad•
vices from Constantinople of the 12th of March.
Shocks of earthquake continued.

The sulphurous springs at Broussa had been

dried up.
Mount Olympus vomits smoke like a volcano,

VIENNA, WEDNESDAY EVENING.

Advices from Odessa of the 14th inst. bring
a report that Prince Menschilcoff has died of

typhus fever. The report requires confirmation

CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 8.

The death of the guiperor Nicholas was known.

hero yesterday.

On the 3d of March the effective strength of

Omer Pacha's army amounted to 35,000 men,
with 1,000 horse and four complete batteries. The
troops of all arms still expected were rapidly

arriving. Supplies were very abundant.
On the 6th an English battery, which com-
mands the bottom of the Sebastopol harbour,
compelled a Russian steamer to quit its position
in great haste.

The Russians have doubled the number of guns
in their batteries. The siege works of the Allies

were almost complete. It was thought that the
south side of Sebastopol could not hold out more

than five days. Ths sanitary state of the Eng•

lish army had improved.

NYBORG, TUESDAY.

The Great Belt is open at the north, south,

and cast : also from Knuclsbovet to Slipsbaver.
Corsoer is still icebound. The Sound ice is
broken up on the Swedish side. Elsinore is open
and ships have arrived. Ice still remains be-

is partially open ; Buelk quite. A storm from
the north-west is rapidly dissipating the ice.

We have received the following private tele•
graphic despatches. It will be observed that
there is a very great discrepancy between the ac.
counts given of the fire

TRIESTE, MARCH 20.

The packet has just arrived with news from
Constantinople to the 12th. The French hospital
of Grand-Champ is said to have been destroyed by
fire ; about 100 of the sick are said to have been
burnt.

Preparations were being made at the Palace of
Beylerbey for the reception of the Emperor Na-
poleon, whose arrival was expected. The mission
which Ali Paella is to fulfil at the Conferences of
Vienna has not been yet decided on.

The instructions given to Arif Paella, the Turk-
ish Ambassador at -Vienna, enjoin him to demand
from the members of the Conference to proclaim
the complete sovereignty of the Sultan, to exact
from Russia a guarantee that the mouths of the
Danube shall be cleared of all the obstacles which
impede the navigation ; not to admit that the
Christian subjects of the Sultan shall be placed
under the protection of the powers ; and lastly,
to demand the participation of Prussia at the
Conferences.

TRIESTE, MARCH 21.

Accounts have been received from Constanti

nople to the 12th. One of the orderly officers of
the Emperor Napoleon has arrived.
M. de Tecco yesterday delivered to the Sultan
his letters accrediting him as Minister Plenipo-
tentiary of Sardinia to the Sublime Porte. M.
de Tecco expressed to the Sultan the readiness
with which Piedmont lent her co-operation, and
said that the Sardinian contingent would proceed
direct to the Crimea without stopping at Constan-
tinople.

The Sultan expressed his gratitude towards
King Victor Emmanuel, and his regret at the
late painful losses sustained by the House of

Three Paellas, accused of peculation, have been

arrested at Kars.

Some wooden barracks near the French hospital

.ave been destroyed by fire.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

(From a Second Edition of the Morning Herald.)

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, MARCH 6.

So few occurrences of any moment have taken
place since you last received a communication from
the Crimea that it is a difficult task to attempt a
letter that would ho read with any interest. The
night continues to be the favourite time for the
enemy to open fire, and it seems that, like most
savage animals, they sleep during the day, and are
most wakeful in the night time. On the evening of
the 3d there was a very heavy cannonade on the
French left, but it was attended with very lithe
loss, and on the following night it was resumed with
greater vigour, and was kept up without intermis-
sion till daylight on the sth. This firing was kept
up from two points, viz., the French left, and also
from Inkerman, but caused very little damage.
How this immense expenditure of ammunition can
be supported is a marvel to all our officers, and the