The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The louse of Elmore : a Family Ilistory. 3 Vols.
Hurst and Blackett.

This work is apparently the first Production of its
author, and displays unusual talent. It is a strik-
ing and original story, owing its attractions rather to
the vigour of the style than to the qualities of the
characters, and the narrative is rather powerful
than pleasing. The characters are strongly marked,
if not natural, and the events startling and im-
pressive, if not of ordinary occurrence. The plot
of the story, however, and the incidents of the in.
troduction, render a degree of singularity in the
chief actors not only probable, but imperative. It
is not likely that a family of children, brought up
under the sole tuition of a gloomy and misanthro-
pical father, in a desolate house by the sea-shore,
without being suffered to have any intercourse with
strangers, would not be peculiar in their disposi-
tions, and that their characters would not be dis-
tinct and individual. Their father, the head of
the unfortunate " House of Elmore," driven
frantic by the desertion of his wife, retired
with his four children to a spot where he trusted
his misfortunes and disgrace were unknown.
He selected a lonely house on the cliffs which lie
named " The Rest," as if his undisciplined mind
and unforgiving spirit could find repose in loneli-
ness. Well may the writer exclaim " What a crude
misnomer—' The Rest !' Is there any rest but the
grave for the descendants of Adam ? Is not peace
of mind and body a fabled invisible on this side the
mysterious nark drawn by the Great Hand ? Go
not, 0 man, to the wildest solitude whore no other
human footstep but thine own has trodden and
say, ' There will I rest,' for life is not rest, not
peace, not content, and they abide not on the
earth where thou dwellest."

Throughout the whole tale there runs a similar
strain of sorrow, a mournful foreboding that pre-
vents the reader from trusting to any promise of a
happy termination. The evil genius of the book is
Jacques Varidon, a false friend of the father of the
hero, who joins him in his solitude, and whose
fatal influence transforms the father into a drunkard,
the youngest son into a miser, banishes the heir
from his home, and deprives the hero of his inheri-
tance. The daughter, a cold-hearted, evil-disposed
girl of surpassing beauty, he encourages in her
faults till they lead her to a fatal conclusion. The
mazes of the plot we will leave the reader to unravel.
A long train of misfortunes meet and finally over
whelm the unhappy Luke Elmore. Deprived of
his first love, he loses the wife to whom ha was
devotedly attached, under most painful circum-
stances ; his eldest brother who is crippled for life
by an accident of his causing, he sees deprived of
his inheritance and struggling with poverty. His
youngest brother becomes a miser, whose strongest
affection is for the evil spirit of the family, Jacques
Variden. His sister is a source of sorrow and
shame, his father dies mistrusting him, and at length
he finds himself a lonely exile in foreign lands with
the stain of accidental murder on his hands. The
reader may picture this remarkable narrative, de-
scribed with power and feeling, delineated with
skill and passion, with all the accessories of minor
characters and incidental occurrences to relieve the
gloom of the main story, and ho will be able to
understand the vigour and originality of the work.
The admirers of the melodramatic school, they who
love to be startled, impressed, and fascinated bya re-
lat ion of the crimes and errors into which the passions
of mankind will lead them, rather than to be inte-
rested and elevated by a picture of the virtues they
may attain, will find this work one of the most
talented of its kind. But the impression it leaves
on the mind is not pleasing ; a wild and weird-like
character pervades it, a kind of fatality, as though
it were hopeless to struggle with destiny, as though
a doom rested on some unhappy ones that they
could not overcome. Such moralising is more
akin to the mysticism of the old German roman-
cists than to a clearer reason and a brighter faith.
Tho incidents of the hero's life were appalling and
bewildering, but let us believe they are uucommon.
Let us also believe that more self-control, a less
violent temper, a nobler purpose, and a firmer pur-
suit of right, uninfluenced and undeterred by
temptations or disasters, would have enabled him
to steer clear of many of the severest calamities of
his life. Let us also believe that if there is no rest
but the grave for the children of Adam, from the
sorrows brought upon them by the faults of others
and the cares of life, a firm pursuit of duty and a
Christain faith will give to the most tried and
troubled, rest for the spirit from the bitterness of
remorse, and the evil consequences of passion and
crime.

THE ARTEIS OF THE RUSSIAN
PEASANTRY.

The low tone of morality prevailing throughout
the Russian empire is painfully evident to all who
have travelled much in that country. Among the
lower orders there exists a general tendency to
lying, cheating, and pilfering. Among the higher
classes an equal disregard of truth obtains, bribery,
corruption, and peculation pervade every public
department, and the tenth commandment is held
in no manner of esteem. With such examples be-
fore him, and with a priesthood little superior to
himself in manners or morals, the degradation of
the peasant is a natural consequence. With no
provision for his religious or secular education, the
Russian mougik has no resources beyond mere
animal gratification ; and he does not consider that
ho has duly honoured his patron saint, or done his
duty to his country, unless he has drowned his
senses in vodka on each of the church festivals
which figure so extensively in the Russian calendar.
This habit of drunkenness is encouraged rather
than repressed by the government and the landed
proprietors. Both are directly interested in its
development ; the former because it swells the
large revenue derived by farming out of the
" otkoop" or licence to sell intoxicating drinks ;
the latter, because it increases the profits derived
from the sale of their grain to the distillers, or
from its conversion into spirit on their own estates.
The Government has utterly failed in devising
any check upon the dishonesty of its officials, but
among the traders in the principal towns a system
has long been in existence which to a great extent
keeps in abeyance' the national vices among at
least a portion of those they employ. This desir-
able object is attained by the establishment of
" artels." The artel is a voluntary association of
a number of men, varying according to the custom
or the exigencies of the occupation they follow.
They are governed and their profits divided ac-
cording to regulations agreed upon among them-
selves, and have generally a head, elected from
among their own body, called the " starost, or
elder, who has the chief management of their
affairs. They frequently board and lodge in com-
mon, but this is generally done when they are oc-
cupied at a distance from their families, the Russian
workman being often employed in the towns during
the summer, returning to his village in the winter,
when the season for out-door labour is ended. The
members of these associations are called " artel-
stchiks," and the peculiar feature of the system—
that in fact in which its effect on the morals of the
people depends—is the responsibility of the whole
artel for the acts of every individual composing it,
so far as those acts concern the relations between
each artelstchik and his temporary employer. The
consequence is that a breach of honesty by an artel-
stchik is rare—a failure of redress from the artel
almost unheard of.

Ore well-known class of artelstchiks is that em-
ployed by merch ants and trader as collecting clerks.
These men are not only of tried honesty, but supe-
rior in intelligence and education to ordinary serfs,
having some knowledge of reading, writing, IT
arithmetic. Besides these, there are important
artels of carriers, some of whom contract for the
t
conveyance of goods to distant parts of the empire.
There are also artels of woodcutters, of carpenters,
masons, roofers, and of other handicrafts, and in
all cases the system is found to work
for the individuals composing
of ascertain-
thewell, not only
artel, but also for
their employers. We have
neno means
comprised in these
ing the average number e
associations, but it mustbfemconsiderable, as almost
all the trading or manufacturing towns contain
several artels ; the principle
the Moravian brethren
of Southern Russia, is, however, carried to
whose
its highest perfection among
religious tenets form
the basis of an union which takes the form of one
large family.
The results achieved by this system commend
themselves to the
attention of all who consider the
1 elevation of the king class a
social and moral
one of the great problems of the da working
and who beg
principle of association toy, lieve the be one of the
most promising means of attaining
that end. The
timo
is happily gone by when every such sug-
gestion was either summarily sneered down, or
discussed merely as a psychological curiosity ; our
lot is cast in better times. It may be true that
Robert Owen's theory of " human perfectibility"
was but the dream of an enthusiast, and that he
learned to his cost the " living in parallelograms"
was not a panacea for all social evils. It may be
true that Louis Blanc's " organisation of labour"
met with an unlucky illustration in the national
workshops of 1848 ; we do not therefore utterly
condemn the labours of those men as a farrago of
revolutionary fustian. Earnest and practical so-
cial economists, whose numbers are steadily increas-
ing, diligently labour to separate the
wheat from
the chaff, and to elucidate the causes of those
failures, and it is to such men we address ourselves,
confident that every fact tending to throw a light
on the important question at issue will prove of
interest to them.

THE BANK CHARTER ACT AND
" MERCATOR."

(From the Derbyshire Courier.
A letter on the Bank Charter Act, addren led to
the editor of the Times, has been placed in a pro-
minent position in that journal. It is simied
Mercator," and is said, with what truth we k now
not, to be written by Lord Overstone, the Mr.
Jones Loyd, who indoctrinated Sir Robert Pool
with the principles of the Bill of 1844.
From the tone and tenour of this letter woare of
opinion that the report as to its authorship is cor-
rect. The evidence given by Lord Overstone tp3-
f.
ore the Parliamentary Committees appointed to
inquire into the causes of the commercial distms
of 1817, is remarkable for the total absence of an y
expression of regret for the overwhelming distress
which had just swept over the country. Himself&
commercial man, and fully cognisant of the ruin
in which commercial houses older and of a higher
character than that by which lie had become the
possessor of immense wealth, and of the attendant
distress in which thousands of the industrious
classes had consequently been involved, Lord Over-
stone had no feelings of commiseration to es:press
for the sufferings of his fellow-countrymen. 4' The
Bank," he said, " were not firm enough in main-
taining their position." They increased the evil
by "yielding to the pressure of the times." The
public ought to be taught that " they must man-
age their own affairs under all the regulations and
restrictions which a metallic currency is subject
to." " Measures of pressure are the only true and
only sure correctives " of monetary difficulties like
that of 1847. He is " not prepared to suggest"
any cure of the evil. Ruined families and starving
operatives act as " correctives." He is moved by
those things

"as rocks are,
When foamy billows split themselves against
Their flinty ribs ; or as the moon is rnov'd
When wolves with hunger pinched howl at her brightness.
I'm of a solid temper, and, like these,
Steer on a constant course."
Lord Overstone's pamphlets have the same cha-
racter; they are hard, dry, and illogical. There is
no sympathy expressed for the people. No regret
even that stern necessity obliges him to advocate
" correctives" which entail misery. No generous
or benevolent hopes of a better day for the masses
inspire him. His pamphlets are just suck as Sir
Giles Overreach zsight write on the Currency.
Of the same nature is the recent communication
to the Times. I%lercator's letter tells us that "the
public is more intelligent, the question better un-
derstood" than in 1847. We rejoice in the con-
viction that such is the case. The press understands
the Currency Question better than in 1847, and so
does the public. A great portion of the press
mad• noble efforts in 1847 to enlighten the
public on the subject of the Money Laws. The
Morning Post, the Bankers' Circular, the Morning
_Herald, the Morning Chronicle, the Daily News,
the Morning Advertiser, the Sun, the Globe, and
the Standard, not to mention many provincial
journals, united to condemn the existing monetary
system. But a most unexpected ally appeared to
prop up a falling cause. This was the Gold of
California and Australia. The immediate pressure
being removed, and an opinion prevailing that
" the gold would set all right," men left off think-
ing about the currency. And as the public ceased
to read, the public press ceased, for the most part,
to write on the subject. The true-hearted body of
Currency Reformers, who believed as firmly as ever
in their principles, were tempted almost to despair
of the success. The current was against them.
" Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land
All fear, none aid you, and few understand."

Some of our public papers never desisted in
active opposition to the unjust and absurd Money
Laws. The Sum remained staunch. The Bankers'
Circular persisted in the expression of opinions
hostile to the Bank Charter Act. Our own humble
efforts were never relaxed. And now we rejoice
to zee nearly the whole of the London preSs again
advocatinc, Currency Reform, with the addition of
a new and powerful auxiliary—the Illustrated Lon-
don News. Many respectable and talented provin-
cial journals are writing on our side. The Chambers
of Commerce in various parts of England and Scot-
land are coming forward. A comprehensive in-
quiry into the subject is inevitable.

Mercator may feel assured that, in a very dif-
ferent sense from that in which he speaks " the
public is more intelligent and the question better
understood " than in 1847.

This writer asks whether the English, French,
and Turkish Loans are not sufficient to account
for the high rate of interest. We reply, certainly
not. Were there no loans between 1797 and 1819 ?
Yet the Report of the Lords' Committee on the
distress of 1847 states that " the earlier practice of
the Bank of England had been to discount at a
rate nearly fixed and uniform." From 1794 to 16th
May, 1839, this rate never exceeded 5 nor was less
than 4 per cent. In the pressure of 1839 the
rate was raised for some months to six per cent.,
but it was reduced to five per cent. in January,
1840, and remained at four or 5 per cent. as
before, till after the passing of the 7th and Bth
Victoria, cap. 32 (the Bill of 1844). " Prior to
September,. 1844," observed Mr. Horsley Palmer,
the Governor of the Bank, " the Bank never re-
duced the rate of interest below four per cent.,
though there were occasions when the value of
money for discount of Bills was as low as 2l per
cent. in the money market." This system, in fact,
produced steadiness and diminished fluctuations
in the rate of discount. And now Mercator would

persuade us that at the very beginning of a war,
after raising a few comparatively paltry sums by
way of Loan, the actual value of capital in the
money market of the world is so raised that the
Bank has been obliged, in order to "follow the
market," to nearly double its rate of discount in
about two months ! This comes of having to make
arguments to support a false system. Mercator
must know that it is to the efflux of a few millions
of Gold, and to that almost entirely, that the
compulsion of the Bank to raise its discounts must
be attributed. Like an advocate with a bad cause,
he can only " plead that general issue" for every
evil in the world at the present moment—Thu
War. _ _

Mercator tells us that the amount of circula-
tion "in the hands of the public at the present
time is not low." By the last Bank Return the
amount of active circulation was only 19,050,900/.
This is low. But the low amount of the circulation
does not fully represent the pressure which may
occur when the circulation is diminished. In the
Panic week of 1847 the amount of active circula-
tion was 20,318,175/.—larger than it is at present.
But the pressure was then greatly more severe than
it is at present, because the notes which repre-
sented this amount were not in reality in active cir-
culation, but were to a great extent locked up in
the tills of bankers and others, who, with ampleiT s
,e
means, were fearful that the operation s
of
Peel
bill might deprive them of the onljrtemndeaeur
mot.
ney
meet-
ing their engagements—viz., legalv
Mercator, or Lord Overstelno asks
will
do so in a nstotellliina
" honestly" what wo wish.few
follow him into the considera-
tion price
words. Wo wish to have goldHatioi,tisngmasrakidet
in Government paper money.
it is unnecessary to
might
our circulation under the
of what
happen if we were to increase
existing system.
not to
" suspension_ of cash payments, nor
on a mere i
We warn all Currency_Beformersdepend
on any contrivance to supply the requisite circula-
tion for the wants of the country while the conver-
tibility of the bank note at a fixed rate is main-
tained.
The evil lies in the liability to have our domestic
circulation restricted, the rate of discounts raised,
and trade crippled whenever, by the turn of the
foreign exchanges against this country, the super-
structure upon which our currency rests, viz., the
Bullion in the Bask, is withdrawn. It is not "un-
limited issues " of paper that we want, nothing of
the kind. The amount is comparatively unimpor-
tant, provided we are secure, that it shall not be
suddenly withdrawn from us. Commerce has in-
numerable methods of economising the circulation
—bills, cheques, and clearing houses. A small
nominal amount of circulating medium, in active
use, and rapid change of hands, does the work as
well as a torpid currency of large amount. This is
the real question at issue between Currency R;
formers and the Bullionists. We wish
paper money- based on the whole property of
by °being
country, and preserved from depreciationne
a.nd his
receivable for taxes ; and Lord Over_s..°o
nation to
party wish the circulating medium of Path%
rest exclusively on gold.

years Deputy Secretary-at-War,
who was for many
during ins omcial caroler for the
A FORMER DEITTY SEclaresr-AT-WAR.--Mr. Merry,
on the 2ad
.ul.t., ase.d 93. Re Was
dwieeldl known oCwh
peculiar style of his correspondence. Us retired upon
nelttoentlrernanny
his full pay of 2,500/. per annum, and received from the
public purse, during his retirement the sum of 70,0001.,
exclusire of interest.—Civil Service Gazette.
EarnEsENTATioN or Nor STAVFORMIRE.—A
change is likely to take place in the representation of
North Staffordshire by the resignation of Mr. Smith
Child, which is contemplated. Mr. Child signified to
his committee his wish to retire a few weeks ago, and
Mr. Hugo Meynell Ingram, of Iloarcross-hall, Stafford-
shire, has been solicited to succeed him in the Censer-
',naive interest. Mr. Ingram, however, has declined
to be put in nomination, and Mr. Smith's committee
have requested that gentleman to reconsider his decision.
Should Mr. Smith still determine to retire from the re-
preentation of North Staffordshire, Lord Sandon will be
requested to Offer himself. If he should do so, his sue-
cess, it is said, is certain.