The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-21 00:00:00

transactions, even to a very moderate degree. Gold
is but the product of labour; it is, no doubt, more
substantial than other articles of value, but still it is
only as a token of labour that its relative values is
considered. It requires so much labour to collect
so much gold, whether by digging it out of the mine
or crushing it out of the rock, and the labour must
be compensated by the produce of its toil. So gold
is but the representative of labour, and passes as a
token of the value of so much labour. Bat if all the
gold passing current in the world were coined into
sovereigns it would fail to represent even one•half
of the transactions of British commercial enterprise.
Why then fix the value of gold at a standard price
of £3 17s. 104 d., when every commodity is allowed
to find its value in the market, either in quantity
or quality according to the demand and supply P
We allow labour free scope in all its products but
in that of gold, and yet we make that gold a stun•
dard of value far below its real worth, judging by
the demand. Yet, in idea, the price fixed is but
nominal, for the value of the article is enhanced as
the rise in discount has of late so lamentably testi-
fied. Nor is the rise confined to the Bank of Eng-
land—it has increased all over the Continent, for
the value of money cannot long be dear in one
country and cheap in another, more especially now
that there is such freedom of intercourse among
civilised communities. If the standard in gold were
abolished, and the article left to find its own true
level, like other commodities, panics would cease
The Ant of 1844 has been lauded beyond its worth,
for its efficacy has been tested, and its fallacy proved.
Twice it has failed, and now again it is found want-
ing. Indeed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated
that no Government would be hardy enough to be
answerable for its security. Then why permit
such a statute to remain as the rule of our na.
tional currency ?_ As trade expands the circula.
tion should correspond. That gold cannot meet
the necessities of trade is proved by the substitu-
tion of paper for part of the currency, but that
paper is bated upon gold, and when the gold
diminishes in amount the paper is also diminished,
so that one evil begets another. Surely there
must be something wrong in the Act that sanctions
such an absurdity. Gold is but a token
of value, which value is representative
of labour, but paper represents that value also
founded on national confidence. If a pieee of paper
be considered to represent five or ten pounds, or
even a thousand pounds, why should it not for
more general convenience be allowed to represent
one or two pounds, founded on the credit of the
nation, and limited to a certain amount represen-
tative of our annual taxation ? Even now some
fourteen millions of debt to the Bank is considered
as gond security for the issue of paper to that
amount. If the national credit be considered good
for eight hundred millions, it must surely be good
for a larger amount than fourteen millions to
the Bank. But there again, when the Bank
ficds its stock of gold to be unequal to meet
the demands of trade, it is compelled to
have resource to the Government for help,
in other words, to suspend the payment of gold for
its notes, so that in effect the Bank trusts to the
Government in its season of distress, and profits by
the loss of the public, Is this just ? Why should
the nation be at the mercy of any one class

There has been nothing of recent occurrence in

public affairs to warrant the present ruinous per.
turbation in the money market. Surely there muse

be something wrong in the working of a system
that periodically brings about such deplorable re.
eults. As the stock of bullion rises or falls public
opinion is elated or depressed. Bullion is the baro-
meter of the national pulse, and when the bullion
is low the national spirit becomes very low indeed.

Haw long will the nation be left at the mercy o;
this Doctor Bullion P We hope Mr GLADSTONE,

who has done so mach for the freedom of trade,

will yet do the one thing needful, give ns free trade

in money, and so emancipate the ccuntry from a

danger ever pregnant with disasters.

It is difficult to say where people will stop when
once they take an obstinate notion into their heads.
They seem to cast consideration to the winds, and
only to seek to express their feelings in some strong
or striking manner. Thos it is with the colony of
Victoria in the matter of transportation to Western
Australia. This vexed question seems destined to
be the source of constant and continual irritation
to all parties concerned, It is much to be deplored
that the concession of the Home Government has
not exercised a better influenze upon the minds of
the colonists. The earnest recommendation of the
commission appointed to inquire into the state of
the convict system in general has been almost put
aside in order not to outrage more than was neces.
eery the opinions so decidedly expressed against
the transportation of convicts at all by the colo-
nists. Many censured this arrangement upon the
part of Ministers, and declared they had given in
unnecessarily, and yielded to a foolish prejudice,
but all efforts seem to have been in vain. The
letter of Mr. CARDWELL has added fuel to the
flame instead of quenching it, and the most extreme
measures seem to be obtaining favour in Victoria,
A great part of the confusion arises, however, from
the fact that the affair has been taken up by those
who are making a regular job of it, and heed no•
thing so much as getting themselves into notoriety
and making a good " party cry" out of the fracas.
The minute on the subject of Transportation to
Western Australia that has been submitted to Sir
CHARLES DARLING, the Governor, by the Victoria
Cabinet, is most extraordinary, and doubtless those
who thought the result of Mr. CARDWELL'S de.
spatcli would not be satisfactory were tot
prepared for this step being adopted. A
tone of indignation, and a spirit of threathen-
ing breathed through the tenour of the
communication, such as to create surprise and
misgivings on the part of those who peruse it, and
to afford a striking example of the lengths to
which people will go when they lose sight of reason
in their infatuated notions, The Government of
the colony consider that they had a " right to ex-
pect" the measure of justice, by which terms they
designate their demand that all transportation to
Western Australia shall cease forthwith. How it
can be justice for one colony to dictate terms to
another it is very difficult for lookers•on to decide,
but at the same time this burst of indignation is
still more uncalled-for and unprovoked when we
consider that more than ample concession had been
made to the exorbitant demands of the colonies.
Why the inhabitants of Western Australia should
have their petition totally disregarded, seems as
strange reasoning as why the inhabitants of the
opposing colonies should have their wish carried
out to the letter. It is well known that
convict labour is very efficient in per.
forming the works of a new colony, and those
who have reaped the benefits of such labour them-
selves in the earlier stage of their history now
positively prohibit their fellow colonists from the
advantages of such aids to progress. The reasons
given are quite absurd, because the number of con-
victs who pass from Western Australia to the other
settlements is comparatively small, and it is incur-
ring a serious responsibility for the sake of prtja-
dice thus to deter men from being put in the way
of gaining an honest livelihood. Ile temptations
in this country to their returning to their old habits