The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-13 00:00:00

they are anti-christian. They are a resort to
weapons forbidden to Christians in defence of their
cause. It were quite another thing had the foolish
Father taken a Protestant's Bible from him and
burnt it, or had he caused him any personal an-
noyance and injury. The law should protect
every penny of our property, and hold our per-
sons inviolate ; but this saint, with a Russian
name, only burnt bibles, which were his own,
either by gift or purchase, and surely he had a
right to do what he would with his own. Grave
Judges and Crown Lawyers, however, manufac-
ture a civil crime out of a Catholic's ill-bred and
irreverent use of his own` property. The pro-
perty belongs to the Catholic, but he must con-
sult Protestants as to his use of it. This appears
to us to be sheer folly. The worse folly, how-
ever, is the elevation of a vulgar bigot to the rank
of a martyr or a victor, and defending Divine
Truth by the profane weapons of common law.

If the Bible bo of GOD it wants not the official
protection of Mr. KEOGH and Judge CRAMPTON.
Its dignity is lowered by their interfereice. It
was burnt by DIOCLETIAN and others long before
the time of the Redemptorist Father and the
Judge, but it never yet sustained dishonour by
the fires of the hater, or despiser ; too precious
to be purified, too heavenly to perish, the flames
have but proclaimed its immortal worth ; and at
the present time the Sacred Volume enjoys an ex-
tent of circulation, with a degree of honour and
influence, which it never had before. All that
could burn at the hands of those who fear it
In be replaced in a few revolutions of the steam-
press, by the mechanics of trade ; but the holy
revelations the book contains are beyond the
power of Father PECHERINE to disgrace, or of
our courts of law to defend. The Popish fanatic
could wheel the paper and print in his barrow to
the fire, but he could do no more ; the judge
could protect the paper and print by law, but
could do no more. The mistake of each was kin-
dred ; one thought he could discredit eternal
truth by physical insult, the other that he could
defend it by physical force. Divine truth itself
smiles equally on either vain attempt ; of the
two it fears more from such a defender than from
the enemy.

As to the trial itself, it is clear the jury cluld
but acquit ; no one doubts that the accused was
guilty of the act, but it is equally free from doubt
that it was not brought home to him by legal
evidence ; whether this were by " management"
or not, we are unconcerned to inquire, since we
are glad of the result. His conviction and punish-
ment would have made him a far greater man,
and created more bitterness against the sacred
book which would have been the innocent cause
of it. It is worthy of note that his escape was
just by those means in which Irish peasants, and
many Irishmen above that rank, exceedingly de-
light. Nothing pleases Paddy more than beating
the law in its own courts. It is pleasant to him
to defy it by force, but to fight it, and evade it,
when beyond all doubt guilty, is with him
the masterpiece. He exults infinitely more
in acquittal though evidently guilty, than in
proved innocence ; so now it is three cheers for
The Redemptorist Father, and three more for
the Bible burner who beat the Judge and his
Attorney-General—if, indeed, he really beat the
latter.

We earnestly commend the admirable letter of
Mr. J. C. SALT—which will be found in another
part of this day's impression—to the attentive
consideration which it so eminently merits. Mone-
tary Reformers are greatly indebted to the Times
for having elicited this clear and convincing state-
ment on a topic of such vital consequence to the
best interests of the community. Mr. SALT is not
the man to be put down by sneers or sickly
attempts at wit. He grapples fairly with the
question, and points out distinctly and unequivo-
daily the serious evils which the industrious
classes have endured, and are enduring, through
the effects of the unwise and impolitic law now in
operation—a law mere injurious to the best inte-
rests of the community than the War in which we
are involved. The bullionist organ having thought
proper to indulge in a little jocose personality agair st
Mr. SALT, could not refuse from publishing his
reply, and our readers will concur with us in
thinking that the Leviathan has by no means the
best of the contest.
The Times fancies that it has male a bit in
catching at the words " I promise to pay," as if
that payment could not possibly be made in any-
thing but gold. It seems to forget that for
twenty-two years such promises passed current
throughout the country, and that by means
thereof England was able to maintain the gigantic
straggle in which she was then involved, and to
bring it'to a successful termination. Gold was
then a commodity which varied in price like any
other article of merchandise, which was bought
and sold in the market. The 1/. notes, which
circulated freely from hand to hand, although
merely issued by a trading corporation, were never
refused, or treated as " worthless rags," simply
because the parties to whom they were tendered
knew that they could get rid of them at any mo-
ment, and that the possession thereof gave the
fortunate holder a command over all the necesl
caries and comforts of life proportioned to the
nominal amount thereof. These notes were re-
quired solely for our internal commerce, and, as
the Times has acknowledged, there was no neces-
sity for gold " being held against them." When
gold was required to adjust the balances of trade with
other nations it could easily be obtained at its pro-
per price, and we believe that from 1797 to 1819
there was not a single instance of persons who pos-
sessed Bank of England notes being unable to convert
them into bullion at its fair market price. There
was, therefore, no inconvenience nor annoyance.
Our merchants prospered, and every well-disposed
operative was certain of obtaining that which was
ambition—" A fair day's wages for a
Industry thrived, and the na-
burdens
a ore e
fairthiiosn hdiwagyall'sess t
ewnoarbkle"d to sustain enormous
through the beneficial operation of " promises to
pay, " that were accepted i
nliuidt
not in of e
mevery
public charge or duty, although e
in bullion. redeemable

It seems almost an act of insanity to discard an
instrument that proved so useful in a very serious
emergency. The currency quacks were not, how-
ever, content to leave well alone. They inter•
fered with that which was really beneficial to the
country, and practically doubled their own fur.
tunes and the burden of every public and private
debt throughout the entire Kingdom. They made
the national industry dependent on the possessors of
a commodity not procurable in England, or by
Biitish labour, and paralysed the creators and pro•
ducers of national wealth by unfair and impolitic
restrictions on the circulating medium, which has
been truly described as the very "life-blood of in-
dustry." We have witnessed the calamitous re-
sults. We have seen working men cast out of
employment and starving with their families, un-
profitably consuming the resources which, under
a wiser and more equitable system, they might be
largely augmenting. We have seen men of un-
questionable Honesty and talent brought to
the verge of ruin from fluctuations in the
of the
supply of bank-notes, and consequently

value of money. We have seen even the Bank
ofEogland itself reduced to the most serious straits,
and only saved in 1825 by the accidental disco-
very of a box of 1/. notes, and in 1847 by the
virtual suspension of the Act of 1844.
We wish to prevent the recurrence of such
serious calamities—to provide a currency adequate
to the wants and exigencies of the country, which
will not be liable to such constant alternations.
This can be accomplished solely by the issue of
a really national note, based on, and
proportioned to, the taxation and charges
which the people will have to meet. If such
notes be the only ones receivable in payment of
taxes or dutiesi, they must maintain their value.
There will be a constant demand, and a with-
drawal from circulation of at least a million, or
possibly a million and a quarter, per week. The
issue should, of course, be controlled by parties
responsible to Parliament. This would surely be
better than placing it under the management of
a body unconnected with the State, and who can
act as their own fancies or personal interests
indicate.;

At present Great Britain is practically a partner
with a trading corporation. By the Act which
authorises the issue of the 475,000/. additional
notes the profits thereof are to go to the Exche-
quer. This participation in profits practically
constitutes a partnership. The nation is, there-
fore, liable far every debt of the Bank of England.
This is not very creditable, even to a nation of
shopkeepers. If notes are to be issued, they
should be those of the State. Neither more nor
less than Exelequer Bills, of convenient amount,
the issue whereof should he reg ulated by Parlia-
ment itself.

How the drainage of the metropolis can best be
effected is still a great mystery. Long as the
sanitary question has been before the public, and
ample as have been the time and the opportunities
for experiments calculated to lead to a definite con-
clusion, we hl eve nothing before us but rival plans
and a mass (xif contradictory testimony. Reliance
we can plane nowhere. On whichever side we
turn there in cause for suspicion that the interests
of the publ43 are subordinated to the vindication
of a theory.. Moot the subject when you may,
to asp ono who pretends to understand it, and
you meet a;,t once with the challenge, " Under
which King BEZONIAN ?--speak or die !" Do
you side with the engineers or Mr. WARD ? Good
cause hare tie public to reply, "A plague on both
your house's." Such a state of things is most
discreditable, and injurious.

If either of the rival plans were a monstrosity
the task of seilection would be easy. The mischief
of the matte r is, both have claims to attention,
and we have no trustworthy data to enable us to
decide as to their respective feasibility. Who
wins or who loses, who triumphs or who is abased,
is per se a matter of indifference, but it is of the
last importrat-ce that, when we are about it, we
should have the work well and substantially done.
The question of cost at the outset is altogether a
minor consitEeration, since, if the work be ill done,
a frightful ex penditure will assuredly be entailed.
Were otherwise Mr. WARD'S scheme would
challenge lux-mediate adoption. Instead of de-
manding mare than a million and a half for
the execution of what is required, he asks for
little more th an one-half that amount—a serious
consideration as times go, if you could be satisfied
that the scheme would answer. Lean, however,
to it but for n moment, and an all but overwhelm-
lug weight .of engineering authority drags you
back, however temporarily, something beyond
your balame4). " The quart into the pint
bottle systera" assails your ears, and you
are stunned with the most emphatic assurances
that the pipes are sure to be a failure, and
source of nerver-ending expense. That the pres-
sure from Atm, in crowded streets will speedily
demonstrate their fragility, and the operation of
their contexts the insecurity and permeability
of their cohesion, if the introduction of an old
beaver has nest already demonstrated their utter
inapplicabilit7 by choking them up. That, in
brief, Mr. WARD is the legitimate successor of the
renowned conjurer, who set the million agog by
promising to jump into a pint bottle ; but with
this difference—he would try.
If in your state of vacillation, you turn to Mr,.,s
WARD and direct his attention to the scheme at
the Engineers, pointing out the all-sufficing area
and substantial construction of the tunnels, you
are met with the assurance that the scheme
involves a frightful waste—that tubes of a vastly ,
smaller diameter at half the cost would suffice,
and that the scheme further involves the utter
waste of the sewage, and in all probability does
worse than nothing towards the purification of the
Thames, objections not in the least applicable to his
plan, experience having shown that it will answer
while it provides for the separation of the sewage
from the general drainage, in order to be sold for
agricultural purposes, and suffers nothing hut the
harmless surface and subsoil drainage to flow
into the Thames.

You turn to the Engineers, and the alleged result
of Mr. WARD's experience meets with a flat controh
diction. Under favourable circumstances piping,
it is admitted, may be resorted to in connection
with brick drains, but so far as the instances to
which Mr. WARD refers are concerned the use of
piping has proved a failure, while in reference to
the sewage it is of no commercial value, and dis-
charged in admixture with the general drainage at
Barking Creek, will be carried out to sea without
a risk of its return to pollute yet further the
already over-polluted stream.

In this maze of contradiction which way are
the public to turn for escape ? The time fast
approaches when the Metropolitan Board will be
called upon to pronounce a decisive verdict on
the matter. If that verdict be arrived at under
present circumstances, the chances greatly pre-
ponderate that they will give their countenance
to an enormous blunder. Would it not be well
if the ratepayers, who have to pay the piper,
called upon their respective representatives to
urge the institution of an inquiry into the work-
ing of pipe drainage in the various parts of the
Kingdom in which it has been tried. An inquiry
which should be conducted by honest and intelli-
gent men, perfectly froo from bias in either
direction ; and should the results be con-
flicting, or should the peculiarities of
London seem to render it advisable, to
make trial of the plan in one or more localities?
It may be worth their consideration, nevertheless,
whether a better scheme than either may not be
saecrchateii
mlabei ep, eachss ein
o:, the face of it being open to ob-
jorApart from the possibility of a third
distinctive features, being forth-
coming, is it altogether without the range of
,lotthem
pro-
bability to have either improved in a satisfactory
nitais nnlgh eiirby borrowing somewhat from the otherhem ?
I
time that the ratepayers should bestir
themselves as activelydoans,tthtehyey for,
willean
Bee cause to
rue ;
de
theirpend°llt'if they
indefensible neglect.

LIVERPOOL, Den. 12.—TEIE SIM' CONSTITUTION'.
The Constitution, which waB burned and sunk in the
river this day se'nnight, WM righted lad evening's tide,
and will be placed on the beach.