The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-29 00:00:00

and orphans of those men who, serving under the Fe.
reign Enlistment Bill, may fall during the] present war
are to participate in the advantages of the Patriotic
Fund ; also, if the widows and orphans of the officers of
our army, navy, and marines, who may fall in this war,
are to participate in the advantages of that fund ?
Mr. S. HERBERT apprehended that the subscribers
to the Patriotic Fund intended that it should be directed
to the relief of the English army exclusively, and it would
not be possible without their consent to apply any por-
tion of it to a purpose for which it was not originally in-

THE "TIMES" AND LORD WINCHILSEA

about the few pounds of salt pork for which credit was
given to our correspondent in the East, many a poor
wounded and sick man at Scutari and Balaklava will
not think that the paltry boon was ill-bestowed upon
any oie who applied in the name of the Times.

(Front the Times of Saturday.)
Few sessions have passed of late years without an
elaborate attack being made by some member of Parlia-
ment upon the policy and conduct of this journal ; and
last night Lord Winchilsea roered against us with a
gwsoaulnid the
erttraainffilyc
vigourbetween t hvra t ,e
shturntinfosrtetrheanindasßsiaoofkbfiiuialdrisn,
have given us the pleasure of hearing his remarks with-
out leaving the spot where we write. The whole of his
vehement address to his brother peers on the course
adopted by the Times since the war in the Crimea took
an unfavourable turn may, however, be summed up in a
single phrase—Lord Winchilsea is not of our opinion.
We are so unfortunate as to differ from him upon the
propriety of laying before the country an exact and un-
varnished account of the condition of our forces. Lord
Winchilseaisall forkeeping the countryin the dark. Upon
this point we join issue with him, but we would prefacethe
few remarks we shall offer in reply to Lord Winchilsea's
attack upon us by assuring him that from us he has no
" vituperation" to fear. We do not " vituperate" any
Englishman—be he Peer or be he peasant—who fear-
lessly and conscientiously endeavours to discharge his
duty to his country. We may deny his facts if they be
founded on error—we may arraign his opinions if they
be calculated to mislead the judgment of the country,
and more especially so at a most critical and anxious
I period—bet we shall do so with the dignity of men who
respect an antagonist because they respect themselves.
Had Lord Winchilsea been in any way mixed up with
the conduct of this ill-starred expedition—had he been
responsible in any degree fur its scandalous inefficiency
i —bad we him to thank for maintaining incompetent
persons in their posts after their incompetence had been
discovered, we should speak of him in a very different
tone. But, as the matter stands, it is for the English
nation to decide between the English press and those
members of the House of Peers who think that it would
have been for the general advantage that the public
should have been kept in utter ignorance of the true
state of affairs in our camp before Sebastopol until last
night, when a Ministerial difference set Lord John Rus-
sell free to tell the whole truth, as we have told it all
along. The question, even so, is not stated in its full
force, for, if the official correspondents of the public
journals were denied access to the camp, unofficial cor-
respondents would start np—as they have done—by hun-
dreds and by thousands, whose murmurs and complaints
would he forwarded home for publication. Were we to
close our columns to the complaints of these unfortunate
persons a dozen journals would be set up within the
week, which wonld earn for their projectors a handsome
return for the capital invested by the mere publication
of scraps of letters from the seat of war. When mil-
lions of readers are anxious for the smallest scrap of in-
telligence of this kind, can any man who has attained to
years of discretion entertain a doubt that they will be
furnished with it through one channel or another ! If
we did not do it, somebody else would, and Lord
Winchilsea would be left to combat one name instead
of another. That would just be the result of the
crusade against the Times. We would suggest, in
all courtesy te Lord Winchilsea, the only method
by which he could attain the end at which he appears te
aim. A law of a restrictive character directed against
the press, as is the case in the continental States, might,
no doubt, if it could be carried and maintained, reduce
the press of this country into an abject dependence upon
the Government. If he would stop the stream he must
do so at the fountain-head ; but it would be a very un-
safe course for the Legislature to venture upon such a
step. He must be a bold man who, in the middle of
the nineteenth century, should endeavour to keep the
country in darkness, in order that such blunders as have
cost us 40,000 men and plunged a nation into mourning
should escape observation and censure, until the truth
in its full horror was made known. We are far enough
from writing in a spirit of bravado ; there has been of
late too much bravado ; but we warn Lord Winchelsea
and any other peer who may share his views, to consider
the probable cost to themselves of a crusade against the
press before they commence the attack, We are much
mistaker, or they would soon discover, in a very signi-
ficant manner, that England does not exist for the
convenience of the House of Peers. It may be well for
them that even " the 29th bulletin" will not now take
the nation altogether by surprise. We -shall not now
hear, as Paris did in 1812, on one day that the army
was victorious, on the next that it no longer existed.
The one point which appears to have aggravated poor
Lord Winchelsea more than another is, that his friend
Lord Raglan bas been called before the bar of public
opinion for alleged disregard of the comfort, nay, of the
lives, of his soldiers. Lord Winchelsea—who prefaced
his speech by an expression of his conviction that he
would be exposed to " vituperation" from the writers of
the Times —not very much in accordance with the spirit
of his own declaration, pronounces this accusation to be
a " false, foul, and malignant calumny." Surely, had
we needed a pretext for "vituperation," here is one. We
decline, however, the contest to which Lord Winchelsea
would invite us, and beg to recall his attention to the
facts of the case. Have the accusations directed against
Lord Raglan proceeded at all from the correspondent of
the Times? From the 4th to the 24th of December that
gentleman, suffering from the sad malady which has cost
us our only army, was on a sick bed in Constantinople,'
and not one word has he ever written that could, by the
most malignant int....pr.t.t;nn, be construed as reflecting
on Lord Raglan. His place has been supplied as Lord
Winchilsea would have it—by the officers of Lord Rag-
lan's army ; and has not every mail that has reached
tke shores of Great Bri'ain teemed with complaints from
them and from our unfortunate soldiery ! It is of them,
not of our correspondent, that Lord Winchilsea is really
complaining. But do not these complaints proceed from
private soldiers, non-commissioned officers, from regi-
mental officers—ay, and from general officers ? Does
Lord Winchilsea, sitting at his ea.e at home, presume to
say that he is better informed than were the peor fellows
who have sealed their statements with their lives 1 He
must have a very robust faith in the activity and
philanthropy of Lord Raglan, if, simply from cot.
fidence in his general character, he ventures to im-
pugn the statments of those who write from the
spot, and who are suffering so cruelly from the effects
of the indifference and apathy of their general.
Was it the Times' correspondent who restored
the locus omissus in the official letter of that brave old
veteran Sir De Lacy Evans, with reference to the ne-
glected post of Inkerman l In a word, it is not we who
are the accusers, nor our correspondent, bat the army,
or what is left of the army, in the Crimea. If Lord
Winchilsea would seek for confirmatory evidence, he
may obtain it from our gallant friends and allies, the
French. Let him ask, if be dares, for the despatch in
which General Canrobert described to his own Govern-
ment the desperate condition of the English army. Let
him ask, if he desires the truth, for the terms in which
General Canrobert has spoken of our Generals and of
our Staff. We are willing to be judged by the delibe-
rate opinion of so competent an authority, and we chal-
lenge Lord Winchilsea to demand the production of such
evidence. If he will rely on testimony more easily ac-
cessible, let him inquire of the Rev. S. G. Osborne, or
of Mr. Augustus Stafford, what is the condition of our
sick and wounded at Constantinople ! In the hospital
of Scutari, with its four miles of English soldiers in
their agony, he will find the most expressive monument
of the discretion, forethought, and philanthropy of Lord
Raglan.
The Duke of Newcastle, in his answer to Lord Win-
chilsea, refrained from the idle attempt to deny any
longer the substantial truth of the statements forwarded
to us by the correspondents of this journal. The time
for denial was, indeed, past, while Lord John Russell in
the other house was painting, in stronger words than
even our eloquent correspondent could use, and with all
the authority of a Minister was describing the condition
of our army as " painful, horrible, and heartrending."
One awful revelation after another has confirmed the
dark reality of the statements which in the first instance
were treated with indifference or contempt. The Duke
of Newcastle's present complaint is that we have only
spoken with too much truth. He says that the London
press is the most active agent for the information of the
Russian Czar and his advisers at St. Petersburg, Lord
Raglan upon two occasions has complained that valu-
able information has been afforded to the enemy via
London and St. Petersburg through the public journals.
To this we can only reply that, whatever may
have been the case with other journals, Prince Mena-
chikoff has received very little intelligence of much ser-
vice to his operations through Printing-house-square.
When the appeal of which the duke speaks was made
to us, we offered, as he well knows, te suppress not
only all that could possibly assist the enemy in our cor-
respondence from the Crimea, but also all the intelli-
gence of naval and military movements here which we
believe, and still believe, to be of much greater import-
ance. The dike d'd not think this necessary, but our
offer and his reply rerrain, aid can be produced. We
are only answerable for ourselves, and we must leave our
contemporaries te do as much. We may, however,
comfort eureelees with the reflection that the Duke of
Newcastle does not impugn our patriotism ; he simply
calls our discretion in question. As moat of us are just
now engaged in cal 'ng le's discraron in question, and
as the army in the Crimea, the grime roasts of English-
men, both Houses of Parliament, and even his own col-
leagues appear to be of the same way of thinking, we
may, in perfe I; confidence, leave this point te the public
judgment. Ynally, although we are well-nigh ashamed
to notice such a matter, we would say one word upon
the facilities which have been granted te our correspon-
dent in the East. Ii common with any other traveller,
being a British subject, he obtained a free run in a troop
ship from Malta. To how many wandering members of
the two houses have the same facilities been extended
during the last twelve months ?—to how many hundreds
of Englishmen ? Lord Winchilsea and the Duke of
Newcastle, moreover, appear to grudge the gentleman
who is acting for us a few pounds of salt perk and biscuit
1 from the Cornrni..sariat, and the Duke—he whose ship-
loads of food rot in the very sight of our hungry troops,
whose wi iter clothing will find but the skeletons of those
they were meant to shield, the cost of whose waste must be
reckoned by the million—takes credit in an assembly of
Lords, whose boast in batter days was liberal hospitality,
that he Las cot off the rations of salt, pork and biscuit
from the one Englishman who has supplied himself, his
colleagues, and the coantry with the vital truth respect-
ing Vie state and prospects of an army which such de-
spatches as we publish to-day failed altogether to supply.
Let him comfort himself, and let Lord Winchilsea and
his fellow-economists take comfort ;—the Dill value of
every ration shall be repaid, and the churls who repre-
sent a generous country shall not have one farthing to
charge to the historian of the war. At the same time,
we would venture to remind them that the obligation is
not all on our side. It was but the other day another
LEEDS, JAN. 27. i correspondent of the Times clothed a regiment which had
The market been sent utterly unprovided by the War Depart-
St
Department to rot away in the trenches before Sebes-
to i being carrying- EXCHANGE
overdhN_ ay.
.—otkwn•aws
knowing
leas
what turn
onwtinhge
Ministerial crisis may take, buyers are very reluctant to -opolt.hat7
wehlotenysoerle
moauyrseblveesL,otrodo,
wwiitnhohtihiseecarifeseidlienrga;
operate. Midlands, 69i.

tended.
Mr. S. ADAIR said, with regard to the second
question, the point was now under the consideration of
the finance committee, but temporary assistance had
already been afforded to such cases which were looked
upon as of an exceptional character.
Colonel DUNNE wished to know if the parties ac-
cepting such assistance would prejudice their right to a
pension ?

Mr. S. HERBERT should imagine not.
THE CAVALRY CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA.
Mr. H. BERKELEY wished to ask the Secretary at
War, firstly, whether any correspondence and what has
taken place between Field-Marshal Lord Raglan and her
Majesty's Government on the subject of the melancholy
disaster which occurred at thebattle of Balaklava, where
the lives of so many of our gailant men of tho Light Ca-
valry were lost, and whether there be any objection to
lay such papers on the table ; secondly, whether due in-
quiry has been made or be contemplated on the subject.
Mr. S. HERBERT said—Sir,—ln answer to the
question of my honourable friend, I have to state, first
of all, that in speaking of the charge of the Light Bri-
gade at Balaklava, I should find another term for it
rather than a melancholy disaster.f(Hear.) With regard
to the question itself, I may state that Lord Raglan has
made a communication to the Government on the sub-
jest ; but I am not now in a position to lay his despatch
upon the table. I hope, therefore, the hon. gentleman
will not press for it,—but I can assure him the subject
By
eLaEnYa
dgdarvees notice
to
her that
eos
tny,a
praying
has not escaped the attention of the Government.
days
Mhe H E
shouldE tmKo
that an inquiry may be instituted into the conduct of
Lieut.-General Lord Liman, for ordering the charge of
light cavalry at the battle of Balaklava, under circum-
stances which precluded the possibility of success, but
would inevitably lead to great loss of life.
Mr. C. BERKELEY asked the Secretary at War if
he had any objection to answer these two questions,
viz. :—First, Whether the order which had been pub-
lished in all the newspapers as emanating from Lord
Raglan to Lord Lucan for the light brigade of cavalry
to make the disastrous charge at Balaklava, is the cor-
rect order or not. It runs thus—" Lord Raglan wishes
the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front ; follow the
enemy, and try to prevent their carrying away the guns.
A troop of Horse Artillery may accompany. The
French cavalry is on the left. Immediate." The second
question is, why the remnant of these brave men are
not to have a clasp to their medal with the word "Bala-
klava" upon it, in addition to " Alma" and "Inkerman."
Mr. S. HERBERT had no objection whatever to
answer them. In the first place, the words which
the hon. member had given were a correct transcript of
the order of Lord Raglan. With regard to the second
question, his answer was, that clasps had been granted
by her Majesty.
REPORTERS IN THE CRIMEA.

Mr. BERESFORD asked the Secretary-at-War

whether, during the present campaign in the East,
rations had been supplied by the Commissariat to any
of the correspondents of the daily press, and if so, by
what authority bad the issue taken place, and bad it
continued up to the latest returns furnished
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT said, in the early part of
the campaign the correspondents of the daily press were
allowed rations upon paying for them, but without the
authority of the Government ; and the Board of Audit
had properly disallowed the expenses in the accounts
sent home. The right hon. gentleman read a letter from
Sir C. Trevelyan to General Filder, directing the latter
to afford accommodation to the representatives of the
press, if it could be consistently done ; and accordingly
they had been allowed rations, where they could purchase
provisions upon paying for them.
Col. KNOX asked whether it was true that the cor-
respondent of the Times was given a free passage from
Varna to the Crimea for himself, his servant, and three
horses, when the officers in the service were only allowed
one horse ?
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT—I am Not aware of any
thing of the kind. (H ear, hear.)
ADJOURNED DEBATE ON MR. ROEBUCK'S
MOTION.

Mr. STAFFORD resumed the debate. He observed
that the only claim he had upon the attention of the
house at that stage of the proceedings, was his having
witnessed the state of affairs in the Crimea ; which he
little anticipated he should have found it necessary to
lay before the house, inasmuch as no one could have
foreseen the events which had taken place during the
past week. In this house they had not to discuss the
responsibility of individual Ministers, but of the Admi-
nistration as a body. It was, therefore, with some sur-
prise that he heard the right hon. gentleman the Secre-
tary at War. state on Friday night. that a cdmutission
had been authorised to inquire into the causes of the
state of affairs now existing in the East ; but he felt
bound to say that, in his opinion, although this n ight be
done, it would not in any way absolve the Governtnen t
from responsibility. Having 'referred to.his experien c e
of matters connected with the war during a recent visit
to the Crimea he explained that that visit had been dic-
tated by no party motive, but that it was entirely of a
disinterested character, and he should be most happy to
avail liiinself of any opportunity which the Secretary at
War might afford him of giving the right hon. gentleman
the benefit of his observations. The boo. gentleman
then proceeded to express his gratification to hear Vim
the Government had taken measures to establish a hos-
pi.al fn- the sick and wounded at Smyrna, and then
passed on to notice the Scutari hospital. He admitted
that of late its arrangements had been much improved,
and were still being improved ; but there were
ralical evils connected with it which would probably
never be remedied, amongst which was the exceeding
impurity of the atmosphere in the neighbourhood. In
the interior of the hospital, when he visited it, he found
the evaporation of noxious gases from the wards, arising,
from want of attendance, was most prejudicial, and the
general health of the patients and other inhabitants of the
parts immediately adjacent. The hon, gentleman then
went on to allude to the position of affairs at a hospital
associated in recent history with two remarkable cir-
cumstances—one a glorious victory, and the other the
most abject state of misery and death attending, our
brave defenders which perhaps was unparalleled in the
annals of the world—he meant Balaklava. (Hear, hear.)
Whilst at that place he bad gone into the hospital, and,
as the house was aware, the two greatest evils existing
there was a want of ventilation and cleanliness. He
alluded in particular to the case of one invalid soldier,
who was almost dying from starvation, and who could
keep nothing on his stomach but sago, which, however,
he was allowed only once a day, in consequence of the
want of dietary arrangements. He (the hon. gentleman)
asked to be allowed to take care of this poor fellow, but
he was told that it could not be permitted, as he
bad not been in the hospital long enough. The bon.
gentleman next spoke of the embarcation of the wounded
at Balaklava, en board the transport -vessels, stating,
amongst ether things, the deplorable condition in which
the poor fellows were sometimes left on shore prepara-
tory to being conveyed on board, and the inattention to
their comfort, indeed to their common wants, afterwards.
In the cases of some who were suffering from diarrhoea,
he mentioned the tenacity with which they clung to
their miserable blankets and wet and worn over-coats,
for warmth, though these coverings were completely
ever-run with vermin, and sometimes se badly as to be
obliged to be thrown overboard ; and afterwards
mentioned how he had himself been instrumental
in the issue of a number of blankets to the un-
fortunate sufferers on board the Candia. The hon. gen-
tleman, however, then observed that after presenting this
gloomy picture to the house he should not be doing jus-
tice to the Government if he did not congratulate the
Secretary-at-War upon having sent out so large a num-
ber of nurses to the East. (Hear, hear.) It was im-
possible to overestimate the' blessings and the
benefits which they had been instrumental in con-
ferring upon the unfortunate sick and wounded,
and to appreciate the goodness of heart and head by
which their attentions and services were dictated He
also mentioned with some pleasure that throughout his
progress through the hospitals he had never heard one
single word spoken by a single invalid against a single
officer in command ' - and amongst those who were most
highly spoken of, there was no one alluded to in more
enthusiastic terms than his Royal Highness the Duke
of Cambridge (hear, hear) whose kindness and
warmth of heart, as well as bravery, under all cir-
curastances, whether in action or, not, had won for him
the admiration dirtehrme
sufferers—and
ation of all. The letter of her most gra-
clone Majesty the Queen created the most enthusiastic and
patriotic excitement amongst the poor sick and wounded
a:de ecalits;ei: ren o t unfre qu ent in which they
sweetened the bitter drawhts of the medicine they were
obliged to swallow, byaccompanying them with "The

_LORD J. _RUSSELL'S EXPLANATION.

( From the Press of Saturday.)

The explanation of Lord John Russell last night must
tend to raise his character in the estimation of his friends
and the country. Disapproving of the constitution and
conduct of the Cabinet, he has taken the only course
open to him, and withdrawn frem as Administration
which he conscientiously believed was not equal to the
exigencies of the public service. We learn from his own
lips that he has for some tires past been dissatisfied with
the feeble conduct of the war, that he was opposed to
the appointment of the Duke of Newcastle as War
Minister, and that he has frequently remonstrated
againet that deplorable mismanagement which has preyed
so fatal to our army. Satisfied from personal knowledge
of the grave errors committed, he could not resist Mr.
Roebuck's motion for inquiry. He was unable to affirm
that there had been that vigour and vigilance at the head
of the War Department which were imperatively de-
manded at the present time. Holding these views, he
had no alternative but to resign. Lord Aberdeen loses
a troublesome colleague, and the country the only minsi-
ter in whose resolution and manliness it had the
slightest confidence.
It is impossible to view his retirement in any other
light than as a protest against the inefficiency of ttis col-
leagues. They were perfectly satisfied with existing ar-
rangements, and content to let things remain as they
were. The War Administration worked admirably
in their eyes. If there is now to be any shifting of
places, any transfer of the Duke of Newcastle to this
department, and of Lord Palmerston to that, it will only
be because Lord John Russell's exposure has rendered
some change inevitable. But that change cannot be for
the better while the constitution of the Cabinet remains
essentially unaltered. It must, indeed, be for the worse,
as, in losing Lord John Russell, it loses the only man
who, it now appears, consistently and strenuously urged
the snore vigorous prosecution of the war.
The vice of the present Cabinet lies deeper than in the
distribution of its offices. It is.systematically feeble. It
committed the great error of entering into the war re-
luctantly, even when it acknowledged the war to be in-
evitable. To this cause may all the disasters of the
Crimea campaign be traced. Preparations were tardily
made, and when hostilities began it was hoped that each
week of the warfare would be the last. How could it
be expected that a ministry would in autsmn provide its
army with the necessities of winter, when it daily ex-
pected seine terms of pacification from Vienna ? To
this hope, and to the delay engendered, our troops ha►e
been sacrificed as effectually as if they had been delivered
unarmed into the hands of the enemy, though unhappily
their death has been more lingeringly painfal than if
they had fallen by Russian lead or steel. To this same
cause may be traced the dilatoriness of all our depart-
ments and the restrictive orders imposed on our naval
commanders. The object has always been not to impair
the power of Russia, bat to avoid a final rupture with
her, Hence the continued admission of her produce, the
spoing of Odessa, and the refusal to blockade the ports
of the Black Sea, neglects to which Russia owes at this
moment her power to maintain the contest in the Crimea.
The great necessity of the country at this hour is a
War Cabinet, constituted with the single purpose of pro-
secuting hostilities with energy, of repairing past errors,
of saving the remnant of our army, of sustaining the
reputation of our arms, and of grappling with our foe
till he confesses himself vanquished, and sues for peace
on terms which will effectually save Europe from his
further aggressions. The greatest calamity which could
now befal the world would be an accommodation which
would leave Russia unchastised, and England humiliated
by a sense of uuretrieved disaster. No terms can be
satisfactory which do not pluck from Russia her fang.
We would cheerfully leave her a first-rate Power for all
purposes of social and industrial advancement, but not
a first-rate Power to assail the tranquillity of other
nations.
The practical question before the Commons is, whe-
ther it will longer leave the conduct of the war in hands
which have so grossly mismanaged it? If confidence is
really felt in the Administration, all discussion and all
inquiry must needs be useless. But before a decision be
pronounced in its favour there is this point to be con-
sidered—that the practical effect of such ♦ote would be
to secure the ascendancy of Lord Aberdeen in the Cabi-
net. What his present views may be we do not pretend
to know, but his predilections are notorious, and it would
be mere idiotcy to expect that he will ever engage in the
contest against Russia with the spirit which the country
requires.
The retirement of the President of the Council is a
proof of the skill with which the chief of the Coalition
is playing his subtle game. As the head of a party
Lord John Russell was to be conciliated ; he was offered
a principal share in the Government ; and he was treated
with some consideration until his friends and followers
were detached from him. That object accomplished,
his resignation is received with secret pleasure ; the
Government organs combine to sneer him down ; and he
finds to his cost that the sacrifice of his party has been
the prelude to the sacrifice of himself.
'rho Onolif inn, Toy 5442 onenrupultpue aa-bo, has obtained
so large a numerical following in the Legislature that it
may possibly be able to escape a vote which would expel
it from office. But the country will not be thus satis-
fied. It has remained quiet so long under the impres-
sion that the Legislature truly reflected its sehtiments.
Should it be undeceived, we believe and hope that it
will make its voice heard, and carry its prayers to the
foot of the Throne.

AUSTRALIAN MINING COMPANIES,

Subjoined aro the communications brought by the
overland mail to the various Australian companies :

NORTH BRITISII AUSTR/LARTAN.

"The directors have received a continuation of aivices
from Mr. Mackay to the 20th of October. Mr. Mackay
advises further shipments of tallow, wool, and hides,
and the first supply of wool was at Moretown-bay for
immediate shipment, to be followed by other shipments
is December and January. Mr. Beeger forwards the
report of Captain Bray on the workings of Cie Kawau
mine for September, and states that the stoping of the
bottom of the 24 fathom level was finished, and that the
men were making a dam, and preparing to sink Ninnis's
shaft below that depth. Every exertion was being made
in sinking the new engine shaft, perpendicularly (for-
merly inclined) to the 24 fatbora level, and from the
activity with which the sumpmen were working, it was
expected that it would be completed by the end of No-
vember."

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 27.

•
STOCK ERCIIANGE.—The market this morning was firs,
but closed flat at about the currency of yesterday. East
Lancashire, 18 17-16 ; Caledonian, nh ; Midland, 69i 70 ;
Lancashire and Yorkshire, 75A ; LAncaster and Carlisle,
Thirds, 8 pm. ; Man., Sheffield, and Lincoln, 24i ; ditto,
Qrs., No. 1,8; S.-Eastern, 17;4 ; North Eastern, Berwick
capital stock, 19 ; London- and N.-Western, 101; Preston
and Wyro, Halves, No. 4, 22.

TUE NUN, LONDON. MONDA.Y erVEINvING jANITARY- 20, 18116:

THE FRENCH LOAN.

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)
The extraordinary success of the French Loan, to
which we called the attention of our readers last week,
has elicited an article on the subject from the Times.
A law was passed for a loan of 500 millions of francs
(20 millions sterling) on December 31, 1854. In nine
days, that is, between January 3d and January 11,
1855, the sum subscribed " amounted to 2 milliards 175
millions of francs, or 87 millions of pounds sterling, on
the whole of which a deposit of 10 per cent., or
8,700,0001., was immediately paid."
This the Times speaks of as a " great financial opera-
tion," which " deserves to be recorded among the most
remarkable political occurrences of the present time."
Much as the Times has depreciated the financial po-
licy of Luis -Napoleon, we are not surprised at its
making use of these laudatory expressions in speaking of
this financial operation of the French. For we remember
what the Times said and unsaid respecting the suspen-
sion of cash payments by the Bank of France in 1848
and 1849. •

On the 18th March, 1848, the Times said, " the
actual suspension of cash payments at such a time
worst possiblerevolution)
and
effects."amon The s uc
I a
measurepeople will"
is
produce(thni
hardly to be distinguished from a general act of bank-
ruptcy." "Unhappily, the credit of the Bank of France,
by far the greatest and most solid establishment in the
country, was already shaken before this decree gave the
finishing stroke to it." "To suppose that the decree
of the Provisional Government can restore the confi
dance of the public, or, in other words, the nominal
value ef the notes, is ridiculous."
The Times of 16th February, 1849, unsaid all this in
a " remarkable" manner. The paper of that date gave
a detail of the Bank measures in 1848. After the sus-
pension of cash payments by the decree of the Provi-
sional Committee, so far from national bankruptcy fol-
lowing, the Bank of France was enabled to purchase
from abroad 40,000,000 francs of silver, to pass over to
the public treasury in dollar, 100,000,000 francs, and
to throw into the circulation of the country, between
Marti], 1848, and February, 1849, five frano pieces of
silver to the amount of 150,000,000 francs. " Vast ad-
vances," says the Times, " were made to the City of
Paris, to Marseilles, to tho department of the Seine,
and to the hospitals, amounting in all to 260,000,000
francs more." Farther, the Bank of France discounted
registered invoices of all kinds of goods ledged in na-
tional warehouses. "In Havre alone 18 millions were
thus advanced on colonial produce, and in Paris 14 mil-
lions on merchandise—in all 80 millions were thus made
available for the purposes of trade." The Bank of France,
be it observed, lost the comparatively trifling sum of
four millions of francs by all those risks. And the Times
of February, 1840, thus summed up its remarks :—" We
manot do more than present our readers with this very
brief outline of these masterly operations ; but when it
is remembered that they were conducted in all the gloom
and terror of an unparalleled revolution, when tho Go-
vernment lay prostrate before the mob, and property
itself was epenly assailed, this narrative of dry financial
entries assumes the importance and dignity of an heroic
resistance to adverse circumstances, and in the very
first rank of those who rescued France from the jaws of
bankruptcy, and society itself frona dissolution, we place
without hesitation the patriotic and able conductors of
the Bank of France." France, the Times further states,
has "reason to be proud " of this passage in her history.
We have more pleasure on referring to this circum-
stance from tho fact that the credit of placing these
counter-statements ef the Times, soon after they ap-
peared, in juxta-position, and ably enforcing the great
monetary principles which they illustrate, is due to a
gentleman of our own county—Mr. James Taylor, of
Bake well.
But we refer to what the Times has more recently
_ _

said and unsaid about the financial policy of France.
In March, 1852, Louis Napoleon, acting on the ad-
vice of his able financial minister, M. Eineau, formed a
plan for nothing less than the relief and amelioration of
the condition of the whole agricultural population of
France, by means of the establishment of Mortgage of
Land Banks. At the same time the establishment of
the Banks of Moveable Credit, for making advances or
railway shares and bonds, had for its object the relief
and encouragement of the trading and commercial com-
munity. The Derbyshire Courier approved and sup•
ported the plan, on its appearance, while the Times de.
eared that the scheme must " lead to ruin," mid that,
if carried out— of which it altogether doubted the
possibility—it would "hereafter be remembered as snore
calamitous and disgraceful even than Louis Napoleon's
political conduct." Such measires were said ley the
Times to " carry the ravages of revolution into the
very heart of society." The project of the Mortgage
Banks is said to be "execrable," and in conclusion
it is declared that " the credit of the nation and the
security of property would eventually be shaken by the
fulfilment of a project which is et variance with every
principle of political economy or financial science, and
copied from the chief absurdities of socialism and revo-
lution."

And so on every occasion ; such as the conversion of
the 5 per cent. stock into 44 per cent. in March, 1852,
which was said to be dishonest, fraudulent, and tyran-
nical, and to be certain to fail, but which was entirely
successful ; and again on the formation of Bakers' Banks
at the end of 185'3, by which the workbag classes of
Frames were preserved from destitution and famine at
that period of high prices, the Tiaras has come forward
as the prophet of evil, to ridicule, to depreciate, and, if
possible, to defeat the financial policy of France and
Louis Napoleon. And, we will also do the Times the
justice to ray, that when the event has proved that the
writer was wrong, it has been fully, though evidently
reluctantly, admitted.
We may now affirm that the climax has been reached;
and the most "remarkable" success of the French Loan,
" whlch," says the Times of Monday last, is an " unde-
niable proof of the wealth of France ; that within so
short a period this enormous Gain should be subscribed ;"
" a demonstration of the confidence inspired by the Im-
perial Administration is all ranks of the community,"
" proofs of wealth, patriotism, and fidelity to the Govern-
ment of their choice in the French people" sets the
question at rest.
We may, we repeat, safely say that of all the evil
prognosticated by the Times, not one jot or tittle has
come te pass, but that the financial and monetary sys-
tem ef Louis Napoleon has, so far, been eminently and
astonishingly successful.
The reason why we call the attention of our readers
to these "remarkable" changes of opinion in our ver-
satile and volatile contemporary is this. The Times is,
and has long been, the must powerful supporter of the
bullionist or hard money party in this country. All
that the clever sophistry of practical political writers
could adduce in support ef Peel's monetary policy has,
again and again, been brought forward in the Times
newspaper. On a subject so confessedly difficult as the
currency question the writers have constantly appealed
—te the common nonsense of the coustry. Every
silly, and vulgar prejudice which igaerance could sug-
gest, or selfishness and self-interest fabricate against
paper money, has been unscrupulously employed.
Now while the Times and its supporters were proving
to their own satisfaction, and we may add, we are sorry
to say, to that of the great body of the English people,
that paper money and paper credit are bad, false, ruinous
expedients, Louis Napoleon and his able and energetic
fiaanciers have been employing this powerful agent—
Representative Paper Money—to restore to
. prosperity
and happiness a nation which had fallen into circum-
stances as unfavourable for the attempt as any which the
history of the world can exhibit.
We have left ourselves little space to refer to the latter
part of the article of the Times, and indeed it deserves
little notice. The writer evidently wishes to say some-
thing to detract from the merit of this "great financial
operation ;" aidso be says that the terms are too
favourable, and that it is a bad thing for Governments
to find too easy facilities for borrowing money.
Let it, however, be remembered that if the term, are
easy, it is the poor and industrious members of the
French community, not rick money-dealers and bankers,
who derive the advantage. Whether Louis Napoleon
will abuse the facility which he has of raising funds re-
mains to be seen. We think he will not do so.
In the meantime we recommend to the attention of the
Times and Mr. Gladstone this consideration, viz., that
if a financier wishes to borrow money—and especially in
a great national emergency—he will act wisely by pro-
posing such terms to the lenders as may insure success.
And to the common sense of the English people we sub-
mit this important fact, viz., that the monetary system
of France is proving itself as superior to that of England,
as their military system has proved itself to oars.