The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-07 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1855.

" Tha currency philosophers," as the intelligent
and patriotic gentlemen who attended the meeting
at the London Tavern, on Wednesday evening, on
the important subjects of " War, Trade, and
Money," are designated by the Times, have ex-
cited the fierce wrath of the bullionist organ.
The old game of ridicule has once more been
resorted to—the leviathan sneers at arguments
which it is wholly incapable of answering. It may
possibly think that the objections of the "philo-
soPhers" can be as easily got rid of at the present
moment, when trade is almost suspended, and in-
dustry paralysed, as when every legitimate and
reasonable facility could be obtained on fair and
reasonable terms ; but it is ridiculous to

Suppose that men of ordinary common
sense will be kept in subjection by a few pon-
derous sentences, and remain quiescent under very
serious privations, because the moneyocracy have
not as yet gone to the full length of their tether,
and aro not as yet satiated with the spoils of their
victims. Perhaps the latter branch of the alter-
native may be regarded as superfluous, for they
would scarcely be satisfied so long as any additional
profit could be realised with convenience to them-
selves. The time may arrive When that will not
be the case ; when they themselves, having ex.
'profits from the general dis-
tracted the highest
tress and difficulty,
may desire relaxation on their
own accounts. In anticipation of this state of
affairs, the Times admits that "we may at length
be driven by sheer necessity to suspend payments,
and to beg a few years' grace from the owners of
bank notes !"

This admission nettles the
question, or
at least narrows it to a tangible issue • for
if such be the case, why should the industrious
and working classes be bound unnecessarily to
endure the sufferings and privations incidental to
the want of a circulating medium adequate to the
wants end exigencies of the country, when the
time must come, sooner or later, if the War be
protracted, that the obvious remedy must
be adopted What would be thought of a physician
who, seeing his patient reduced to a state

of weakness should refuse to supply the necessary
nutriment until he was brought to the last stage
of exhaustion, and his ultimate recovery rendered
doubtful ? The modern " SANGRADO " would
justly be despised and avoided, and more reason-
able practitioners would be eagerly sought after,
who did not think it necessary to push the disease
to the utmost extremity before any attempt was
made to neutralise its effects.

Such should be the treatment of the currency
quacks. It is certain that the existing monetary
code is totally inapplicable to a state of war—that
even Sir ROBERT PEEL himself could not, if living,
now advocate an experiment which totally failed,
even under far more favourable circumstances.
Why, then, should England madly persevere until
driined of all her bullion, when there would be
considerable danger of that "depreciation" which,
with judicious measures, would now be nearly, if
not altogether, impossible ?
The Times has itself, within the last few weeks
(on the 26th of October), admitted that, " suppos-
ing the circulation to be required solely for inter-
nal commerce, no necessity could exist for gold
being held against any portion of it." We fully
concur in this view of the case, and are prepared to
argue on what has been laid down by our opponent.
It declares that "a deposit of Government Stock,
or the fact of it being receivable for duties, would
at all times keep it from fluctuation in value !"
Why, then, we ask, may not the domestic cur-
rency be as easily distinguished from that required
for our foreign trade, or of "adjusting our
balances with other nations at periods when our
exports have not been fully sufficient to pay for
our imports," as the returns of the banking and
issue departments of the Bank of England ? As
we have repeatedly explained, there can be no
valid reason why forty or fifty millions of sove-
reigns should be kept circulating to meet the
transactions of every-day life, when 11., 21., or
31. notes would answer every possible purpose,
and the amount, limited by a judicious issue
of these unexceptionable securities, would
quadruple our pecuniary resources so far as the
maintenance of the War and the external trade
of the country was required ? The ✓senseless and
irrational prohibition in England of the Small
Note Currency, in universal use in the Sister King-
doms, has been one of the chief causes of the
serious fluctuations in the value of money,
more injurious to the trading community
than all the failures of banks of issue
that have ever taken place. Let us, then,
earnestly and promptly endeavour to avert that
evil. Let us provide a fitting " circulation for
internal commerce," that will not require gold to
be held against any portion of it. That can be
accomplished by the establishment of a really
National Bank—such as we have incessantly
advocated—a Bank responsible to Parliament
and the country, and the profits of which will
belong to the public Exchequer, and materially
allay the burdens on the too-heavily charged tax-
payers.

The necessity for accurate—or, if that be im-
possible, approximately accurate agricultural
statistics is now pretty generally admitted.
Nothing, in fact, but utter blindness, or the
ignorant promptings of self-interest, can account
for the denial of it by any who have paid atten-
tion to the subject. The nation, in regard to the
food question, is notoriously, to a large extent, at
the mercy of speculators. The returns of the
corn averages under the present system, blunder-
ing and inaccurate as they are admitted to be, are,
it has been seen, worth little more than the paper
on which they are inscribed. Nobody knows what
the stock of corn in the kingdom really is—what
the acreage devoted to cereal growth—what the
prospects of the coming harvest—what the im-
portations required from abroad. All is guess-
work, the nearest approach to the truth being
made by private individuals, who have enormous
difficulties to encounter, and are, besides, exposed
to the charge of prejudice, which is by no means
hesitatingly preferred against them. The result
is, a few capitalists have but to conspire to-
gether and the price of corn is raised. Some
fine morning anxious housekeepers have their
appetite for breakfast taken away by the an-
nouncement of an utterly unexpected rise in the
price of the quartern loaf ; and the ill-clad poor,
while suffering under exposure to the inclemency
of winter, have to stint yet further the chief
means whereby they secure vital warmth, and
perpetuate their existence—large stocks all the
while lying in the country, and more than need be
imported being to be had from abroad. Who
will be found audacious enough to assert that such
a state of things should be suffered to continue ?
But bad, very bad, as the operation of the pre-
sent system appears, when considered in relation
to the immediate necessities of the population, it
must be regarded as seriously aggravated in rela-
tion to commerce. Here the system introduces
the element of uncertainty, always to an injurious,
and not unfrequently to a paralysing, extent. If
manufacturers have no certainty as to what amount
of cereal supply is likely to be required from
abroad, how is it possible for them to conduct
their business transactions with America, for in-
stance, on a sound basis ? If they labour under
the conviction, as they must do, that no reliance
can be placed on the averages, how can their
dealings with corn-growing countries, in particu-
lar, come under any other category than that of
speculations I If they exchange, as they must,
their goods to a large extent for corn, it is quite
evident it must be of the last importance to them
to be enabled to count with as much confidence
as possible on the price it will fetch in the home
market, and not be exposed to the risk of having
the value received for their goods ruinously de-
preciated on its arrival by a glut in the market,
occasioned by a reaction after an artificial rise.
Thus,rese n t w
it will be seen, the future as well as the
present welfare of the country is seriously com-
promised. The industrious middle classes and
the much-enduring
ad on the one hand, and com-
merce poor are exposed to needless
privations sufferings
n
merce is more or less paralysed on the other, and
o
that at a period when our manufacturers are
hardly able to maintain their supremacy in the
markets of the world. Something must be done
during the next Session to put a stop to this
monstrous evil and institute a better state of
things. Either the system adopted by the High-
land Society, or a compulsory return on the part
of every farmer, must be resorted to. The sub-
ject, however, is of so much importance that we.
must recur to it in a future article, when we will
have opportunity, among other things, to take into
consideration which of the two proposed remedies
is most likely to be effective, and notice some of
the objections made to them. In the meantime
we invite the serious attention of the public to
the matter, confident that the experience of the last
two months must have prepared them to render it
—a period during Which monied conspiracies have
been unusually rife, and the comforts as well as
the necessaries of life have been so seriously
abridged. The most ignorant must be satisfied,
from a consideration of the present prices of bread,
sugar, (tc., they have been scandalously victim-
ised, in that the late rise in both was mainly
artificial, and not the result. of. scarcity or any
u-ncorftiollable natural causes.

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

Last night the entertainments here were for the benefit
of the enterprising and spirited manager, Mr. Smith,
and although increased accommodation had been made
it was not nearly sufficient to accommodate the immense
attendance. So complete an overflow must have been
exceedingly gratifying to the lessee, and at once prove
to him that the manner in which he has conducted this
national establishment, in accordance with the prestige
attached to " Old Drury," has been appreciated by
that pu olio which is at all times ready to sup-
port energy, talent, and enterprise. At the con-
' elusion of Charles Mathews' farce, Patter versus
Clatter, there were loud calls for Mr. Smith, and on his
appearance he was met with the most enthusiastic ap-
plause. In returning thanks for the public patronage,
he briefly recapitulated the events of the season. He
referred more particularly to the engagement of the
Lyceum Company, and mentioned with genuine cor-
diality the services of Mr. Charles Mathews ; and very
good-naturedly announced that his benefit was fixed for
Wednesday week. He promised at Christmas a jovial
and gorgeous pantomime ; and candidly confessed,
despite the pressure of the times, he had managed to
meet all claims, and keep the theatre open in a manner
worthy of its historic memories.