The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-25 00:00:00

OUR MONETARY SYSTEM.

LIVERPOOL, Wednesday.—The Council of the Chem
her of. Commerce have been engaged for the past two
days in a discussion of the present state of the monetary
system, which was brought under their notice by a re-
quisition from a number of the leading rneeciiants
of
Liverpool asking the chairman of the chamber to call a
meeting to afford the commercial public an opportunity
of expressing their opinions. The discussion was private,
but it was understood that an answer would be delivered
this day to the requisitionists. Accordingly, at half-past
12 o'clock, H. Littledale, Esq., appeared at the Chamber
of Commerce on behalf of the requisitionists, when E.
Heath, Esq., the chairman, communicated the following
report :
" Chamber of Commerce, Liverpool, Oct. 23.
"At a special meeting of the council to consider a
requisition on the subject of the present state of the. mo-
netary system, Edward Heath, Esq., president, in the
chair, it was resolved—
" That although the council see no reason for alarm
in the present state of the commercial position and the
general resources of the country, yet they cannot conceal
from themselves the fact that there is a growing appre-
hension in the public mind of approaching difficulties.
" The council, therefore, think it necessary to com-
municate to the requisitionists the following conclusions
at which they have arrived—
" That should the demands of a large war expenditure
on the one hand, and the food requirements of Western
Europe on tie other, cause a continuance of the drain
upon the available banking capital, and the stocks , f
bullion in Moils country, the Bank of England may (de-
spite the exercise of the only corrective principle appa-
rently in its power, namely, that of raising the rate of
interest and restiicting discounts) find its banking re-
servo of notes exhausted, while the issue department, as
in 1847, still retains a large stock of bullion.
" That the experience of 1847 clearly demonstrates
that, in the event of such an assumed contingency, the
Back of England, under the provisions of the act of
1844, is powerless to afford any facilities to the corn-
merciai world, and (although the originatmg causes may
not be precisely parallel) the same calamitous crisis as
that of 1847 may again be witnessed.
" That as the public are now fully aware that the
only possible mode of relief in such an assumed state of
affairs is the interposition of Government to suspend the
operation of the Bank Act of 1844, the uncertaitity as
to the mode and the time of such interposition is cal-
culated to create apprehension and to generate a want of
confidence in the public mind.
"That the prevailing apprehension on the part of the
public, arising from such a state of doubt and uticer
tainity, is in itself mainly conducive to cause and hastea
the advent of the crisis which is so much dreaded.
"That it may, therefore, become the duty of this
chamber to call upon the Government to anticipate and
prevent any such break-down of public confidence, by
declaring, at an early period, its readiness to assume the
responsibility which is expected from it.
"That, in order to make any such declaration practi-
cally useful, it is requisite that it should not he deferred
(as in 1847) until, by the total loss of confidence, unne-
cessary suffering and injury shall have been experienced.
"'Ant a standing committee be now appointed to
watch the progress of events, and to intimate to the
council their opinion when immediate action on the part
of this chambei is desirable. •
(Extracted from the proceedings.)
" ROBERT TRONSON, Secretary."
Mr. HEATH added that the standing committee re-
ferred to in the resolutions bad been appointed, and
would meet daily, or at less frequent intervals, as the
aspect of affairs might require.
After a few remarks from Mr. Littledale, the meeting
separated.

The General Screw Company's steam•abip
transport 147, sailed from Southampton yesterday with
horses, troops, i 40,, for 4,k, Mack Sea.

The English Government is omitiing no °ppm,
tunity of reinforcing the West India squadron,
and thus interposing a powerful fleet between this
c nintry and the North American Continent. This
proceeding will, we doubt not, call forth from a
large portion csf the American press that, species of
mild and temperate comment in which they delight
whenever the conduct of England is in question,
and a little political capital is to be manufactured
by making her the object of invective and depre-
ciation. We shall be told, no doubt, of the fiendish
hatred of England to Republican America, and of
the insolent menace behind which she veils her in-
sidious and treacherous designs. Without the
slightest wish to reflect in any way on the press
which allows itself to be made the vehicle of such
statements, or upon the constituencies whose votes
are found to be influenced by such calumnies, we
wish to point out to the good sense and moderation
of the American people the causes which have' led
us, even in a time of war, to increase our squadron
in their seas, and may possibly lead us still further
in a direction the first steps towards which' we are
now most unwillingly taking.
We entreat, then, the American public to
believe, notwithstanding the assertions to the
contrary with which they are so assiduously
plied, that there is no party or body of men in
this country that regards them with any other
feeling than that of the utmost goodwill, or would
wish for them any other fate than the enjoyment
of the utmost public freedom which •is consistent
with the utmost private liberty and security. We
have neither the wish nor the right to intrude
our opinion on that form of Government which
has been established in the United •States ; but
we have, and we claim the right, to take every
reasonable precaution against that spirit of un-
bridled license which the present Government of
the United States seems inclined to tolerate. At
this moment North America is in profound peace
with the whole world ; yet it is not the less true
that in her ports are fitting out at this moment
piratical filibustering expeditions, destined to carry
war and bloodshed into the dominions of an unof-
fending neighbour. These expeditions do not re-
ceive the sanction of the American Government, are
not equipped by its funds, will not be conducted by
its officers—but their preparation is nevertheless
well known to the President and his Administra-
tion, and receives no check from that quarter.
This toleration, we are willing to suppose, proceeds
from weakness merely, and would be exchanged
for vigorous action, only that the power to act is
utterly wanting. The American people are so free
that they will not be controlled by a Government
of their own creating, and, though laudably eager
for the preservation of their own dignity and the
assertion of their own rights, cannot bring them-
selves to tolerate an Executive sufficiently strong
to compel respect for the rights of foreign nations.
It is because we see no hope of finding in the
United States a Government capable of preventing
its citizens from waging private war on their own
account against the best friends and truest allies
of the great republic that we are most unwillingly
compelled, even in the midst of the great European
struggle in which we are engaged, to assume a de-
fensive attitude, in order to trample out the first
sparks of this fire, and prevent a conflagration
which, if once allowed to spread, may cause incal-
culable misery to the human race. It is the mis-
fortune of the American Republic that she con-
tains within her borders so many desperate and
lawless men ;it is still more her misfortune that
she does not possess an organisation sufficiently
powerful to crush these criminal attempts. That
which she cannot do we are compelled, at least
so far as the lawless enterprises directed against
ourselves go, to do for her. We cannot wait pa-
tiently till these lawless emissaries of insurrection
and plunder have set their feet within her Ma-
jesty's dominions, and encountered there the re-
sistance which is sure to overwhelm their wild and
desperate schemes. Wo cannot wait till we are
placed in the terrible dilemma of either sparing
men to whom clemency is cruelty to the human
race of which they are the enemies, or of inflicting
a just punishment, which may be the means of in-
!famine against as the passions of the American
people and leading to a disastrous and fratricidal
war.. We will, if it be possible, prevent the crime
that otherwise it would be our duty most severely
to punish, and this we do in the name and in the
hope of peace. We cannot believe that those who
are now engaged in enrolling unhappy men for
these desperate and criminal enterprises really con-
template the success of a descent upon Ireland, for
instance, as probable, or even possible. All they
can hope is that the miserable fate sure to attend
such wretched adventurers may be the means of
inflaming the public mind against England, and
stirring up the passions of the people to a point
which might render war inevitable. This consum-
mation it is the duty of the American Government,
if it can, to prevent, and, as it cannot, of the Go-
vernment against which such attempts are aimed
by all means to avert. If we can prevent these
expeditions from sailing, or intercept them in mid-
ocean, we shall have done much towards averting
the danger that must arise should they be carried
out to their natural development. The course of
action we have adopted is bold, but for that very
reason we believe it to be prudent and safe.
We are fully aware of the advantage that such
a proceeding gives to those ever active emissaries
of discord, who are incessantly employed in every
State of the Union in stirring up the feelings of
the populace against this country. That which
is a mere measure of self-defence against lawless
force they will represent as an insult offered to the
lawful Government of the country; they will de-
claim, they will distort, they will exaggerate, but
we must not omit to prepare against real dangers
because our preparations may be honestly misun-
derstood or designealy misrepresented. England
has every wish and every interest to remain at
peace with America. The immense trade which
we carry on with her, the community of language
and of blood, the absence of any ground of dispute
or subject of rivalry, all plead forcibly in the same
direction. How strange that under such circum-
stances we should be driven to arm merely be-
cause it is the will of a portion of the sovereign
people to make war upon us, unsupported and un-
approved, but also neither prevented nor arrested
by the Government ! We desire above all things
a continuance of peace, but if it be the determina-
tion of any large portion of the people of the
United States to force war upon us we shall know
how to meet it and repel it, without relaxing for
' an instant our gripe on the throat of the reeling
and tottering giant of the north.
But is it for the credit of those free institutions
so often vaunted as all that is wise, perfect, and
liberal on the face of the earth, that a friendly and
kindred nation, ardently desiring peace, should
feel itself compelled to stand on the defensive, not
because it has any serious dispute with the Go-
vernment of this free and happy community, but
because that Government is unwilling or unable
to prevent its citizens from going forth to murder
and to plunder in the dominions of an unoffending
ally ? Are these the garlands with which the tree
of freedom ought to be adorned—are these the
laurels with which the temples of the goddess
should be bound ? England has some claim to be
called the nursing mother of freedom ; and her
citizens are free because they know how to obey—
how to subordinate their individual wills to that
law the supremacy of which constitutes the prim
cipal distinction of a civilised community.

(From the Daily News of this day.)

That General Simpson comes home immediately
appears to be beyond a doubt. Owing to his great
and increasing infirmities he has persisted in his
request to be allowed to resign. But if it has been
decided who is to be his successor the secret has
been carefully kept. All that has been allowed to
transpire is that the new Commander-in-chief will
be chosen from among the general officers already
with the army, and that no new man will be sent
out. An impression prevails among those who have
access to the best information, that some time may
be allowed to elapse ere a successor to General
Simpson is nominated. It is thought that so long
as our troops aro divided—part of them before
Sebastopol and part engaged in the northern ex-
pedition—Sir Richard Eyre and Sir Colin Camp-
bell will each be allowed to retain a separate aud
entirely independent command. And yet it is not
easy to persuade oneself that such should be
the
determination of Ministers, unless it is intended
that the English army shall be allowed to sink
down into a mere contingent and auzilary covps.
as
Already its inferiority in respect of nunlbmeersw,hat
compared with the French army, gives i
the appearance. But if it be parcellenetlitoand rlis
pursed—one detachment before Sebastopol,s and
another in the Liman of the DniiseaPepr,
be one at Eupatoria,
suthbe da,vpiasirotn. of
ETnhgs.
This
will in a short time be made to d
p and another ;eta arKna d
l t e
o
tr gtc le may
t—haeiytr
by the process of division and
will be carrying on the war, on
land, upon tin priaciple 9f the )194193paitIlistB—.

In our police report of yesterday there was an
account of a most distressingcase which was brought
under the notice of Mr. Jardine, the sitting magis-
trate at Bow-street. The circumstances, if we look
to the magistrates' decision, may not justify any
very strong animadversion upon the conduct of any
person, although we cannot agree with Mr. Jar-
dlne's remark that the behaviour of the defendant
appears "to have been reasonably humane and pro-
' per." Largo allowances must, no doubt, be made
for the blunted feelings and pinching difficulties of
a woman who had throughout her life been con-
tending with poverty in its ghastliest forms ; still,
if we, as men, understand anything of the embtions
by which women are actuated, we should have
thought that if there was a circumstance which at
all times would have enlisted the sympathies of
one woman in the behalf of another, it would be
the sight of a wretched creature struggling into a
bare room, without assistance and without a friend,
to give birth to an infant. If the sufferings of the
mother touched no diviner chord, surely the cry
of the new-born child, or, still more, the sight of
its little lifeless body, might have suggested some-
thing else than tt desire to get rid of a momentary
difficulty. We pass at once to the facts of the case
as stated by the complainant, Elizabeth Joyce, a
girl of about 20 years of age :—On the 6th of Oct°
her last, at about 10 o'clock at night, she, then ex-
pecting every moment to be confined, applied for
admission at St. Giles's Workhouse. The porters
sent for the midwife, and this person summarily
declared that Elizabeth Joyce was not in the state
in which she supposed herself to be. Another
woman was called to council, and they both agreed
in the opinion that it was entirely a mistake, and
that the best thing the wretched girl could do was
to go to a hospital and get cured. She was then
" put out" of the workhouse. We ask of the ladies
of England who mpy honour us by casting their
eyes over our columns to consider the situation of
this unfortunate creature. We care not what her
fault; may have been, but can anything more en-
tirely and hopelessly wretched be conceived than
the position of this young woman, in all the dire
agonies and apprehensions of approaching child-
birth, as about midnight, on the 6th of Oct. last,
she leant against the walls of St. Giles's Workhouse,
from which she had been just expelled ?—and in
what a situation ! The poor creature, in some
fashion or another, contrived to reel down Drury-
lane, and there, as she says, she met a young man
with whom she had been acquainted, and he said
that he would pay for her night's lodging. By him
she was taken to a lodging-house in Eagle-court,
near Red Lion-square. She undressed and went
to bed, but shortly afterwards was taken with the
pains of labour, and delivered of a dead child. The
landlady, aroused by her cries—stifled as they may
have been—came in and asked what was amiss.
As soon as she saw the real state of affairs she said,

" Dress yourself immediately, or I will give you
into the custody of a policeman for 'o6ining into a
strange house for such a purpose." Elizabeth
Joyce did as she was ordered ; the body of the child
was wrapped in an old shawl, and she and the
landlady went out together.
As soon as they came into Rod Lion-square the
defendant, Isabella Ward, told her to sit down on
the stones, and said to her, " Now, mind, you are
not to contradict what I say. I will leave you in
the square while I go and fetch a policeman ; and
I will tell him that I was passing by, when I acci-
dentally saw you and went to your assistance." If
Elizabeth Joyce would not agree to this, she was
informed by her companion that she should be left
to her fate. She agreed, of course. In a short
while Isabella Ward reappeared with a policeman,
who seems to have acted with very praiseworthy
decision and humanity. After a few natur,lwqauteesr
ques-
tions, he procured for her some brandy and
her into a
from a neighbouring public-house, put her Tero,pital,
cab, and conveyed her to King's Collegstanance.
The
where she received every necessary asAsi
it is right
police-constable, William Smith, 340 b
that his name should be honou
Ids share in
as
mentioned--
confirmed the girl's account far,corroborate her
the transaction enabled himarsgtiori
Eliza Simpso
statement. There was anent:pauions, who wag also
one of Elizabeth Joyce's
produced as evidenceeotnbaheterakde. This young wo-
man told Mr. Jardin
went out with her friend to
night in question she. e
who gave her
some medi-
cine,a doctor's in DrurY-lan
the workhouse.
that girl said the porters
and sent her
theon to When
they arrived there
d one of them added,
spoke very sharply Lobo
nctl!ingtthematter '
Oh ! there's
Are not in labour.. I appears she ought to have
a certificate before the fact could be recog-
nised by the parochial authorities. When repulsed
from the workhouse the two young women went
to the station in Bow-street, but there the inspec-
tor told them that he could not compel the people
at the workhouse to admit the applicant, and re-
commended them to try again. This, however,
they felt to be useless, and so went wandering
about until they met a good Samaritan in the per-
son of Henry Baker, who paid for the night's lodg-
ing. We now come to the statement made by Isa-
bella Ward, the defendant, a middle-aged woman.
From the report it does not precisely appear whe-
ther or not she was the keeper of the lodginghouse;
her own account is that she works for her father,
who keeps the house in Eagle-court. This point,l
however,_ is not very important ; she certainly acted
as one who was possessed of competent authority in
the home. When the young woman called out,