The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-31 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1855.

The Black Sea fleet has not, as yet, attempted
any very brilliant achievements worthy its estab-
lished reputation and high efficiency. It certainly
accomplished important results at Yenikale and in
the Sea of Azoff, but they were realised at a very
trifling cost, and without any extraordinary
amount of labour or peril. There were many
cases of individual daring and distinguished ser-
vices.

Wherever and whenever either officers or
men were put to the trial, they passed nobly
through the ordeal, and effected all that the most
sanguine could have anticipated. But, unfortu-
nately, their energies or gallantry were but sel-
dom tasked. There were manifestly concealed
influences at work that prevented them from hav-
ing the chances of gaining distinction and
honour, fcr which they were anxiously pining.
It was not their fault, from the highest
to the lowest, that they had not their
work to do. They were bound to take their in-
structionl from Whitehall, and could only attempt
matters that had previously been sanctioned by
"My Lords," or rather by the " First Lord."
When the prohibition is removed, we are satisfied
that they will " work with a will," going at it
in right earnest, and that their dashing exploits
will amply compensate for their compulsory in-
action.

It seems quite certain that there is something
im the tapis that the extraordinary preparations
easily perceptible are not made for nothing. The
objects are yet involved in mystery, and there
are so ni4ny tempting operations that, until the
complete solution of the problem, it is impossible
to predictwitl any degree of confidencethe nature
or locality of the contemplated proceedings. We
earnestly hope. that a. home blow may be intended,
and that what we long since indicated as a per-
fectly measure n nay.feasible beat/my/ed. A trial
is all that is required, for if that be made we
have not the slightest doubt as to its complete
and unequivocal success.
Hitherto the larger vessels have been little
better than spectators of passing events. The
Russians were too well aware of the stuff of Which
our jolly tars were made to risk an encounter on
anything like equal terms. In any act of brutality
--in crushing an unresisting foe, and butchering
those who had previously struck their colours—.
they were—as the massacre at Sinopo proved,
,perfectly au- fait. But the qualities there dis-
played were. not of the character that wins a
sharply-contested fight against an equal foe. At
Sebmiopol they destroyed a moiety of their fleet,

for the purpose of blocking up the entrance
to the harbour, and affording an inglori-
ous protection to the remainder. Our men-
of-war could not get at the skulking
dastards, nor even fairly measure their strength
against the granite walls of the several forts. On
the first day of the siege they had a little go, in
which the gallant LYONS greatly distinguished
himself ; but the " great go " is still to come off,
when a combined effort is made by sea and land
to bring the siege to a decisive and summary con-
clusion. That will indeed be a glorious exploit,
one which a NELSON might have longed for, but
which it is reserved for the British "Lyons " to
achieve. There is not a single sailor in the fleet
who would not surrender " a fin" to be per-
mitted to participate in the glorious work.
But if Sir CHARLES WOOD should still prove an
impediment there are other channels where they
can be beneficially employed. Odessa was once
unaccountably spared. We have bitterly ex-
piated the fault. The sparing of Odessa has
hitherto been the saving of Sebastopol, the
cause of the sanguinary battles of Balaklava and
Inkerman, and of the supplies so lavishly poured
in to the beleaguered fortress, which enabled it to
resist all the efforts of its assailants.

Odessa has since been greatly strengthened.
Its destruction will now be a far more difficult
task than it would have been last year—but still
it is feasible. We can do it if we like, and con-
vince the Austrians that we are really in earnest,
that the hostilities are bona fide.
There is also Nicolaieff and Kherson to the
west of Perekop, and the Putrid Sea to the
east, where there are abundant opportunities
for winning fame and aiming at the alternative
so dear to Jack's heart, " the gold chain or the
wooden leg." These latter acts may not be very
perilous, but they would be very advantageous to
the cause in which the Allies are engaged, and go
fax to cripple the power and reduce the arrogance
of Russia, and to compel the AUTOCRAT to abanw
don the policy of PETER and of CATHERINE, which
he professed himself to be determined to pursue.

The landlords in their time were heartily
laughed at for assuming the guise of "Farmers'
friends ;" and Mr. BROWN, and other wealthy and
honourable Free-trade M.P.'s, were among the
loudest laughers. The farmers' friends had at least
one justification for themselves, namely, that the
farmers believed them their friends. That, how-
ever, was not sufficient to save the lords of the
soil from the jokes and sarcasms of the lords of
the spinning jenny. Friends of high rents,
friends of monopoly prices, friends of aristocratic
settlements, were the epithets by which they were
most freely designated. And so it has been with
each class of monopolists as they have fallen be-
neath the scythe of free trade. Shipbuilders
and owners were refused the claim to
be considered friends of the British marine
when they resisted the repeal of the Navigation
laws. Colonial proprietors would not pass for
negroes' friends, or disinterested protectors of the
colonists ; and even we of the Press, when asking
to keep our postal stamp, were denied the right
to be considered friends of the Exchequer, or of
the public either. One and all, justly or un-
justly, we were ridiculed as concealing gross sel-
fishness under the guise of patriotism or public
spirit.

Bat no set of monopolists have made themselves
more utterly ridiculous than the monopolists
of money. Their turn is come at last—it

ought to have come first and see the
virtue and patriotism of the men ! The
money monopolists wish to pass for creditors•
friends and poor man's friends. They demand
protection for creditors and protection for the
poor man against the frauds of bubble companies.
They are afraid that one will sell his goods to
them, and the other take his small shares in them,
and that both will lose their money. Kind pro-
tectors they of the workman and of the trades-
man ! So kind that they defend with the most
griping tenacity a law which, like the corn laws,
has the peculiarity of putting the money into the
pOckets of its defenders, of which it has first
robbed those whoi they profess to protect. No
one doubts that our partnership laws are made for
the wealthy. Ab, no ! the monopolists exclaim quite
accidentally, we do get rich under them. That
is a trifle ; we defend them to protect you trades-
men and workmen against being hoaxed by
bubble companies. The little break in the argu-
ment is, that tradesmen and workmen think they
can protect themselves. If they could not, we
should still say, the sooner they are taught to do
it the better. Sugar growers, farmers, ship-
builders, newspaper proprietors have all been
taught to do it, and have taken no harm from it.
Let monied men learn to walk alone, and trades.
men and workmen will do it easily enough.
And now for 'Ghia money-monopolists' bubble of
bubble companies. We will suppose that they
may spring up like mushrooms, or be plentiful as
blackberries, to use the elegant stereo typed
figures of the Stock Exchange. What of that ?
The same faculties which teach the pupil of
Mrs. GLASSE to distinguish the true from the
spurious mushroom, and which enabled us When
boys to distinguish the ripe from the half-ripe
blackberry, will enable us, if they be permitted
full play, to distinguish the bubble from the sub-
stantial company. Of course there may be com-
panies of rogues, as well as individual rogues,, and
there may be unsuspecting confiders in them, as

there was in the banking firm now before the
magistrates. Confidence will certainly be mis-
placed and abused while Captain RooK and Mr.
PIGEON are a part of the human family. We
deny, however,'that it is the part of a Govern-

merit to supply Mr. PIGEON with the faculties

not bestowed
upon him by nature. The latter
will learn to keep out of the way of his circum-
ventor, if he be but left to find out what
he is liable to in the company of a cer-
tain class. The mass
of poor men also are
not such fools and simpletons,
in their own line,
as the benevolent capitalists would persuade us.
Their errors in strikes are but after the model of
"their betters," and as we permit them to refuse
or sell their labour at the bidding of bubble
NEWTONS and organisations, so we are bound to
allow them to invest their money mistakenly if
they will. Their mistakes like those of Messrs.
BROWN, MINTZ, HASTIE, and the others of that
class, will quickly correct themselves.
But the luckless tradesman who trusts a bubble
company, have you no mercy on him? None at
all. He sees a grand announcement in the Times ;
"Capital one million, ten per cent, paid up
Tenders wanted for this or that." He sends his ten-
der to a splendid edifice, and all within betokens
ample means. Why should he hesitate ? We
say, too, why should he hesitate—to ask for his
money ? If the company is so wealthy, why
should it refuse him the money on delivery of his
goods, or on account of work in progress ? He can
afford to do it somewhat cheaper for ready money,
and
refusing ready
can a really substantial company
ready money, and therefore paying
higher for
their work ? If, however, Mr. A. ,
Will not servo
toe ye the company on credit, Mr. B.
and Mr. C., and, all ifte alp • -habetwill be but too glad
to do it. If they will indeed do it, and if it be

found for a few years together that the alphabet
does not become changed from capitals to small
letters by so doing, why then it will be because
the companies generally do not prove bubbles. If
otherwise nothing will induce prudent tradesmen
to deal with them. Mr. A. will leave to Mr. B.
with pleasure his chance of a small gain, with the
chance of a greater loss.
The truth is, the present bill is only an absurd
modification (like the fixed duty on corn) of a
great principle, adapting it to the fears of some
honest but timid men who have jogged on in the
old ruts so long that they shudder at the sight of
a railway train. Or still more is Government
intimidated by the great and obviously selfish
wealthy capitalists. The simple principle is, leave
the creditor to find out to whom he may safely be-
come a creditor. Let him protect himself. He
has two remedies ; one to refuse credit where he
has reason to doubt, the other to charge so much
more when credit is doubtful as to reimburse
himself on the average of such cases. On the
other hand, let every person advance his money
to another on whatever conditions he pleases.
Let him be avowed partner, and, therefore,
responsible to the extent of his means—partner
to the extent of a certain amount of capital,
sharing the accompanying proportions of profits,
and liable to the avowed amount of his capital.
Or let him agree with a number of other persons
to employ each a certain avowed amount of capi-
tal, and each be answerable to the amount em-
ployed. Every creditor, even if there were no
public registration, could ask the amount of
capital belonging to the concern, and the
names of the persons, with the amounts
for which they were severally liable. Such
inquiries, if partnership and money-lending were
as free as it ought to be, would be every*
day occurrences, and insulting to no one. We
should not object to the most severe penalties for
false prospectuses or false answers to such ques-
tions. They would be fraud worthy, in a emai-
-1 mercial community, of condign punishment. But
there we would stop. We are confident that, in
the money trade, as in every other, every man is
his own best protector. All the outcries against
the present bill, or against a perfect bill, are but
the cunning of monopolists, and the nervous-
ness of those whom protection has taught to forego
he use of their own limbs.

In another column will be found a copy of the
New Sale of Beer Bill, brought forward by Mr. H.
BERKELEY, which passed a second reading last
night.

The preamble, as may be seen, declares that the
existing laws against the sale of fermented and
distilled liquors have been found to be attended
with inconvenience to the public ; and by the
first clause these laws are repealed. The second
clause prohibits licensed victuallers from selling
beer, wine, or spirits, or any fermented or dis-
tilled liquors between the hours of three and five
p.m., or after eleven p.m. on Sunday, Good Fri-
day, Christmas Day, and any public fast or thanks-
giving day, and before four a.m. of the following
day, except to a traveller or lodger. The third
clause prohibits the opening of any house
or place of public resort between after or
before the above hours, except to travellers.
The remainder of the bill authorises constables to
enter public-houses, ctc., at any time, imposes a
penalty of 5/. on summary conviction for every
violation of its provisions—each sale to be consi-
dered a separate offence—and admits of an appeal
to the Quarter Sessions.
The result will be, should the bill pass in its
present state, the public will gain two and a-half
hours on Sundays, &c., the present acts closing
public-houses from half-past two till six p.m., and
after ten p.m., and the words bona fide, in con-
nection with traveller, being omitted, all the
difficulties and vexatious consequences which
have arisen from the conflicting interpretations
of those words will cease. The bill may, there-
fore, be regarded as a welcome boon, though,
after all, but an imperfect act of justice ; for, as
we intimated yesterday, we can see no sufficient
reason why public-houses should be closed between
the hours of three and five p.m. on Sundays,
much less on other days, which large numbers of
the population conscientiously refuse to observe.
Opportunity, however, will be afforded Honour-
able Members in Committee to move amendments
which will remove this restriction, and we trust
it will be embraced.