The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25 1855,

values will vary exactly in proportion to their abun-
dance and scarcity relatively to the wants of man-
kind. To satisfy debt is the sole function of money
and the sole element of its value. Money ought
not to be merchandise which can be melted and
robbed of its vital function as the canceller of debt.
Instead of " the promise to pay," which appears so
simple and definite to the Times, it is payment
which is more simple and definite still. The only
problem to solve is to maintain it in such quanti-
ties as shall be in harmony with the just require-
ments of industry.

? Will the Government want a loan of 25 millions out
of this remnant of circulation ?

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Dec. 24.

The responsibility of the Times is great in proportion
to its influence. It cannot think on these matters too
deeply.—l am, Sir, very respectfully yours,
THOMAS CLUTTON SALT.

MANSION-HOUSE. —Thomas Coombe, a well-
dressed young man, 19 year of age, was placed at the
bar before the Lord Mayor, upon the charge of em-
bezzling money belonging to his employers, Messrs. Car-
lisle, Pitman, and Co. warehousemen, of Bow-lane.
Mr. J. Pitman said—The prisoner has been clerk to
our firm since he was 14 years of age, and we always re-
posed the greatest confidence in him. On searching our
books, I find that prisoner has been in the habit of re-
ceiving in the shop sums of money and entering sums of
a smaller amount than he received in his cash book. I
particularly specify the sum of lls. 10d. which ought to
have been entered 1/. lie. 10d. In this instance, there-
fore, the prisoner robbed us of a sovereign. I have at
present discovered five different instances in which be
has made fraudulent entries, and appropriated money to
his own use. His :node of robbery has been so syste-
matic for a long time past that I expect, on further
search, to be able to prove many other cases against him.
Mr. E. Carlisle, another partner in the firm, gave evi-
dence of a similar character.

What are the conditions we seek? The first and
most sacred right we have to protect is that of the
labourer to full employment. I have shown that
increased money of necessity increases employment
and sustains prices. A sufficient issue of legal ten-
der money will give full employment to labour,
producing the greatest amount of national wealth,
and the money that produces the wealth will al-
ways be able to effect its distribution, securing the
greatest amount of national happiness.
In 1853, with abundance of legal tender money,
labour was fully employed in every branch through-
out the kingdom ; all the classes you have enume-
rated were happy, prosperous, and contented. Every
man was his own Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The air was everywhere resonant ‘s ith the music
of gipsey parties of the labouring classes, there was
joy and contentment throughout the land, and the
workhouses were empty. The Bank of England,
under the compulsion of the law, reduced its issues,
and at the present moment the workhouses and
gaols are altogether insufficient to contain the
paupers and criminals ; our wealth and means of
wealth being identically the same, the derange-
ment of our monetary system alone disorganises
every interest.

J. C. Knight, constable, No. 437—1 n consequence of
information I received I went to the premises of the pro-
secutor this morning, and, on my arrival there, Mr. Pit-
man said to me, "I give this man into your custody, offi-
cer, for robbing us." I said, " What will be the charge
against him ?" Mr. Pitman replied, "There are a great
many sums." I said, " You bad better state one speci-
fic charge." Mr. Pitman said, "There is one clear sum
of it. 11s. 10d., which the prisoner has altered to lls.
10d." The prisoner then said, " I hope you will pardon
me, Mr. Pitman." Mr. Pitman replied, " Indeed, I
cannot, as there are so many cases." The prisoner at
first denied the charge, but almost immediately said, "I
will confess all you have charged me with." Mr. Pit-
man said, " You have also torn some leaves out of our
books." The prisoner replied, " Well, I confess I did,
and I am very' sorry for it indeed. I have had my
mother to keep. I will make the .noney up any way
you think proper if you will let me go.
Mr. Pitman said he could not do that.

The Times has fulfilled many a mission of
humanity and justice ; I still hope it will look
more deeply than it has hitherto done into this
all-important question, and that it will enter its
powerful protest against the happiness of the
people being longer made the sport of an obsolete
theory.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. C. SALT.

The prisoner, when asked if he had any answer to make
to the charge, said, I am guilty, and am very sorry in-
deed for what I have done, .and I hope this will be a
warning to all other young men.
He was then remanded to a future day, when other
cases will be brought against Lim.
Jas. Higgs, a labourer in the service of the Hudson
Bay Company, was placed at the bar on a charge of steal.
ing thirteen marten's eking, the property of his employers.
F. Farnier, a fellow-servant, said that on searching the
prisoner as he was leaving the premises of the company
in Fenchurch-Areet on Saturday afternoon, he found a
marten's skin in his pocket, upon which he gave him
into custody.

" Come, expound your riddle, Mr. Salt. What is the
matter with the bank nolo ?" See the Times, Dac.l3.
Sir,--I will answer your question, and solve the rid-
dle. In return, I claim of you the solution of a greater
riddle Clan mine.
What would have been the matter with the bank-note
if the gold in California and Australia had not been dis-
covered ? What would have been the matter with the
country under the effects of a law compelling the pay-
ment of all debts, public and private, in gold absolutely
unequal to their discharge ? What would have been the
condition of the editor of the T bites. even now agonised
by the delay of a single vessel bringing a supply of gold,
if none of them had arrived at all ?

Police-constable No. 584, who took the prisoner into
custody, said that on searching him at the station-house,
he found 13 skins on various parts of his person, five
being tied round his waist, three round each leg, and two
in a sandwich-box.

VVifliam Mitchell identified the skins as being the pro-
perty of the Hudson's Bay Company, and said they were
worth from 18s. to 20,,. each.

The prislner was remanded.
Caroline Griffiths and Elizabeth Palmer were charged
with stealing a goose in Leadenball Market on Saturday
night.
Wm. Er3wn, a servant in the employment of a sales-
man in the market, said—On Saturday night, between
10 and 11 o'clock I suddenly missed a goose, and saw
the prisoners making their way through the crowd as
fast as pssib!e, Griffiths " jostlin4" Palmer on the
,houlder for the purpose of expediting her escape. I
overto )k them, and accused them of stealing the goose.
They indignantly denied the charge, but I put my hand
under the shawl of Palmer and found that she bad got
the goose tucked under her arm as right as a trivet.
(Laughter.) She then said she bad bought it at our shop
for 75., which is not the fact.

To these questions I want a Blear, fair, and specific
answer, and not merely wit and literary banter.
Sir Robert Peel's bill is univenally acknowledged to
lave been a gigantic error, from which accident has
only imperfectly rescued UP. Shad we correct or cling
to the error and its consequences, and depend on future
chances? I say the discovery of gold has only partially
caved us ; even now we are suffering from intolerable
mury, and from the contraction of our monetary system.
Tinder this double effect our workhouses and gaols,
which were empty, are overflowing. Is not that fact
enottgb.
But what is the matter with the bank-note ?—that is
the question. Why, it is gone ! That is the matter,
and a pretty considerable matter too, seeing our debts
are not gone with it.

Griffiths declared she had never seen Palmer in her
life before the time in question, when she was stopped
with her.

It is .s-vi!d of you, sir, talking of my taking a Hansom
cab, g,•ing to the Bank of England, and getting five
sovereigns. I have not got the note ; hence my grief.
A vast quantity of gold money has left the country ;
the Rink of England has reduced its issues of notes
from 25,000,0001. to 19,000,0001.
Every bank in England-800 banks—has secured a
portion of the 19,000,0001. to increase their reserves;
the Government is exacting 100,000,0001. instead of
50,009,000/. of taxation, and you coolly tell me to take
a Hansom and present my 51. note at the B ►nk. I tell
you I have not got the note ; it is withdrawn ; destroyed.
Why is it destroyed ?—for a goodly reason, forsooth,—
because we have no gold money,—ergo we shall have no
paper money ; and you ask what is the matter with
the note ? Why it is dead—not sick, but dead. That
is the matter.

The Lcri Mayor--How do you know the goose to be
the one you lost ?
Witness—lt's a foreign goose, my lord. You can
always tell a foreigner by the look of the wing, and the
pluck is different from that contained in our English
geese. (Laughter )
Palmer—l gave 7s. for the goose, my lord.
The Lord Mayor (to the witness)—Should you have
sold such a goose as that for 7s.
Witness—The market value of the goose was Bs.,
Ss 6d., or gs.

The Lord Mayor—But would you have taken 78. for
that one ?

Witness—Oh yes, my lord, it being an old one.
(Laughter.)
The female searcher at the station-house here stepped
into the witness box, and said that she fund concealed
on the person of Palmer ss. Gd. in good money and nine
counterfeit coins, consisting of seven florins, a half-
crown, and a shilling.
The prisoners were remanded in order that the officer
might communicate with the authorities of the Mint.

Now, I pray you, solve me the riddle how, with this
remnant of feagnant money, wages and debts are to be
paid I Soho me that riddle and you shall be immor-
talised.

I will not waste your time nor the time of your rea-
ders by disputing whether tho price of gold is fixed ; the
Bank of England, we know, is obliged to supply it at a
fixed price, which is a sufficient fact for all but the most
refined understanding•.
Sir, in the coming session this subject must be die-
cused, and the Times cannot afford to be behind all its
contemporaries, and almost alone to support errors so
glaring as those of our monetary system. I know that
editorial etiquette forbids the confession of error, but
happily the hue of editorial thoughts can change even as
the cameleon's.

THE LATE FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE IN
MINT-STREET.

OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Payne, the coroner of the
city of London, held an inquest in the board-room of the
Workhouse, Mint-street, Southwark, on the bodies of
Lydia Robins, aged 33, a single woman, and her two
children, one aged about three years, and the other born
during the fire which took place on Thursday morning
lash, at No. 25, Mint-street.

In perfect anticipation of seeing you of another coloer,
and in its newest gloss,—l am very respectfully yours,
T. CLUTTON SALT.

Sir,—You question me so directly through your cor-
respondent Mr. Hill, that you bind me to answer and
yourself to insert the reply. So, unhappy Mr. Editor, it
is your doom that I should still be your correspondent,
and that this currency ghost, which you have so oftsn
laid, should still haunt your columns, making them

This case is one of a most melancholy character, and
has created the utmost excitement in the neighbourhood.
Eliza Power deposed that the deceased lived in the
hack-room on the top floor of No. 25, Mint-street. On
Thursday last witness slept in the same room with two
of her ehildren, as her husband was absent. About two
o'clock in the morning the deceased said, " My God, the
house is on fire," and witness got out with her two chil-
dren on the roof of the house. The deceased was in the
family way, and expected almost evcry hour to be con-
fined. The room was full of smoke, and she (witness)
lost sight of the deceased on making her escape.
By the Coroner—bid not know when the fire escape
arrived.

Mr. Hill is right in his demonstration that if four so-
vereigns weigh an ounce, the price of gold will always
be 4/. an ounce, let the value of gold vary as it may. In
all other cases price is the index of value ; in this case it
ceases to be so, and only denotes quantity ; henoe the
mystification and the fraud. The law binds us to pay
our debts, not in an equivalent value of gold, but in a
fixed quantity.
Let us see how it operates.
_ _

Mr. Henderson said that the fire-escape was at the
house before he arrived.

We borrowed the biilk of our national debt at 60/.—
in paper money worth about 401. in geld, or 10oz. of
gold to the 1001. stock. We are bound to pay 250 z.,
and to pay in value 76 per cent, interest for 3 per cent.
we agreed to pay ; and, when John Ball remonstrates
against the wrong the callous usurer audaciously ex-
claims, " Why, John, are yon going to cheat your cre-
ditors l" and stupid, simple John agrees that the thing
passes his understanding, and so the Reign of Fraud—
the Reign of Fraud and Terror, is established.
Mr. Hill says I have not pointed out any way of con-
ferring a definite value on mere pieces of paper.
Mr. Hill has not read my letter. The value of regal
tender paper is not special, as is a dock warrant, but uni-
versal in its minietratien to the great human necessity
of cancelling debt, and therein has a value perfectly in-
dependent of the law that makes it convertible into a
fixed quantity of gold ; inconvertible legal tender minis-
tering to an equal want will have an equal value. Its
value as legal tender will vary, like all other articles of
prime necessity exactly in proportion to its abundance
or scarcity ; and to regulate its value it is only neces-
sary to regulate its quantity, which the present law
deranges.
How to regulate the quantity we wilt see hereafter.
Conversion of money into merchandise is barter. Con•
version of money into any one particular article is a
monopoly of barter, at variance with all sound principle,
and having the additional trifling objection that it is a
physical impossibility to convert all debts into one
article.

Robert Bygrave, the landlord of the house, deposed
that he slept in the back room of the first floor. He
went to bed about 11 o'clock, and was awoke by the
sound of a policeman's rattle. His room was full of
smoke, and he ran down stairs with one of hips children,
and was followed by his wife and another child. Before
going down stairs he tried to g►et out at the back, but
observed the kitchen on fire. The fire broke out in the
kitchen. There were two doors to it.
_ . _

By the Coroner—There was a kitchen belonging to
the next house at the back of the kitchen of the house
occupied by witness, and there was a copper place
against the wall. The flue of that copper passed through
the back of a cupboard in him kitchen. The wall between
the rooms consisted of 4-inch brickwork, and woodwork
let in between the bricks. Ho was of opinion the fire was
caused by the flue of the copper being go near the cup-
board. He had not had a a fire in his kitchen for a long
time.
By a Juror—The next house was an eating-house, and
the night of the fire was the first time of the shop being
opened. There bad been a fire hi the copper, as the per-
sons cooked the joints in it they sold.
Mr. R. Henderson, foreman of the D district of the
fire brigade, deposed that he was called to the fire about
2 o'clock on Thursday morning, and on his arrival found
No. 25 in flames. After the fire ho made an examina-
tion of the next house, No. 24 . There was a copper
in the back kitchen, which stood against the wall,
and was set in brick-work and cement, the back being
fixed to the wall. The wall between the kitchens of
Nos. 24 and 25 was what was called a brick-noggin,
consisting of about 4 inches of brickwork and tim-
ber. He then went into Mr. Bygrave's kitchen (No. 25)
and found a hole in the wall that he was enabled to put
his arm through, and which led right into the fire-place
or furnace of the copper in the next house. He produced
a piece of wood partially burnt, which he discovered
fixed in the wall, just below the hole he had mentioned.
By the Coroner—He had no doubt the fire was caused
by the piece of wood he had produced catching light
from the furnace of the copper being so near.
Mr. Thomas Cooke, of Sarah Anne-street, St. Mary,
Newington, said he was a practical builder, and had
examined the premises. He saw the copper alluded to
by Mr. Henderson. The furnace extended to about 2
feet 6 inches or 2 feet 9 inches under the pan •r copper
to where the flue began. The furnace was composed of
four-inch tbrick work on the right side, or next to the
kitchen, but on the side of the wall there was merely
the brick noggin partition. The fire was caused by the
draught carrying the flame round the pan to where the
piece of wood was found.
By the Coroner—There ought to have been four inches
of brickwork on the left-hand side, or next the wall.
William Chorwan said that he had lived with the de-
ceased, Lydia Robins, hut was not marred to her. He
left the house, No. 25, Mint-street, on Wednesday after-
noon, but (lid not return until Friday.
Police-oonstable 75, stated that the fire-escape was
about eight minutes before it arrived ; but the conductor
could not get down the Mint, and had, therefore, to go
through Lant-street. The conductor of the escape saw
It woman and two children ou the roof of the house, and
brought one child down by holding it by its clothes with
his teeth, and another under his arm.
The conductor of the fire-escape corroborated the evi-
dence of the last witness, and also that ho saved three
other persons besides those described by the police-con-
stable.

The only legitimate function of money is that it shall
cancel debt ; the only qualification we can require in it
is that it shall bo of steadfast ♦alue. Legal tender money
regulated in quantity is payment of just value, and not
A promise to pay.
Forty years of alternate speculation and ruin, 40 years
of torture under the effect of the Bank screw, have
surely demonstrated beyond dispute that the issue or the
withdrawal of legal tender money increases or diminishes
the employment of labour, raises or reduces demand and
the general range of prices.
I myself am weary of what Lord Liverpool was pleased
tl call the stern path of duty. Listen, most gracious
Editor, to your amiable enthusiast. Let us boil our peas
and finish our pilgrimage in comfort.
The regulation of our syitorn by the exchange gives MI
no timely warning ; the traits of mischief is all laid be-
fore it is possible to detect it ; there is no escap, from
the explosion ; the withdrawal of the pipe' anoney
simultaneously with the gold money is a doul,ie curso,
and it comes like remorse, that punishes, but does not
prevent our errors.

I do know a better standard than gold ; for the pre-
sent I will only comply with Mr. hill's wish, and point
out a better application of the gold standard.
Deprive gold of its monopoly as a sole ultimate legal
tender, and thereby restore it to its natural value ; cease
to use it as a coin, and then it may servo as a point of
comparison for your legal tender paper. Its rise or fall
itrrn.
Issreepnraieinn,ci
rhd fioaectiehlbsieanhrl
aaTtnslorcinenartgoismfl
eetu:
aglaaudlteeetl ,de
na instantlyaoierlinlnepsratapulorimportations
b of i
rned
ai c
general
et en
et:
ai el
s ;mtphoerrtea twi a
thenn
be no groat premium on the exportation' of gold, and if
it is exported it will not in the least degree disturb our
monetary s Ynsotwewp.retend to fix what price of gold will be
I
a, j ust standard,
nt
dhseotragn
distributionrpdeaaaprt paper
rs ;t
will
amount
sustain
of
I assume—that in any case the standard mast be made
and that life and happi-
subservient to life and happiness,
€ll
ne
Thatsps
(r)nyunasi
et notn
ot
limited
labour,i
ssn thesacrificedeboyfcirltee:atiatotilinstgte
its value, and that a sufficient issue will insure the full
prices national wealth, and will also cause the greatest amount
oa regular range of
propor-
tionate f
Tnat itc
happiness,tniotawith:lolco sustains
t o production, securing honest indus-
try from oppression, and limiting insolvency to folly and
vice.
Happen what will the fall employment of labour must
be secured ; this is at once the first duty, the first right, '
and the keystone of social order.
I have assumed these things as sdf-evident axioms ;
if you can throw a doubt on thorn I am perfectly ready
to inflict on you the tediousness of demonstration.
The public will not read a long letter, and your space
forbids one, or I could show in the regulated develop-
ymocunrt
iolnf
aindustrial
dproessa- rs a
odf a;w
for n of h hopethe
pre s
ebnrti g
thht ee r
Bt
ah
na
kn
continues to lose its gold and withdraw its paper —usury
triumphs' and industry languishes. Can you tell me
how far 18 millions of Bank issue is from panic point,
and how near you will have the hardihood to approach

Everett Carlton, a journeyman bricklayer, deposed
that he set the copper. He did the work for a man named
Frederick Cottle, who was formerly a chimney-sweep,
but also took plasterinq and other jobs. Cottle showed
witness the copper, and told him to set it iu as little
compa,s as possible. He (witness) sounded the wall
with his hammer, and thought it was composed of bricks.
it never occurred to him that it was a brick noggin,
although he ought to have knocked the plaster down to
see whether it was or not. lie was extremely sorry
after what had occurred that he did not ascertain whe-
ther it was a brick wall.

The Coroner, in summing up, pointed out that the fire
had evidently occurred through the negligence which the
man CaAtoc owned to have been guilty of, and the jury
returned a verdict of " Manslaughter against Everett
CLrlton:

The Coroner was about to commit Cathen to Newgate,
but the foreman and another of the jury offer,d to be-
come tail for his appearance, and he was ultimately
allowed to leave the court.

Four English vesseig of war have remained Jr the
Danish waters to look after some American craft known
to be laden with war material for Russia.