The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1853.

Parliament this year closes a somewhat pro-
longed session under rather peculiar circumstances.
It leaves the great party question of the day still
unsettled—the question as to the manner in which
and the principles upon which her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Government shall be conducted. The
simple fact of the existence of the Coalition can-
not be said in any way to have solved the pro-
blem or elucidated the difficulty. That latest
union of " All the Talents," as it was called at
the outset by its more infatuated admirers, only
decided a very subordinate subject of inquiry,
namely, Whether or not the DERBY Cabinet could
be ousted by a political combination ? That
query, it is true, was answered rather summarily
in the affirmative during the course of last Feb-
ruary. How—the public bears of course to this
moment vividly in remembrance. It is not for-
gotten, for example, that the change which then
took place was effected by the voluntary
abandonment of ancient feuds and long-
cherished antipathies by some of the most
distinguished statesmen of our generation.
Neither can it be forgotten that it was accom-
plished ostensibly for the purpose of rejecting a
Budget, the basis of which was a considerable ex-
tension of the house tax. Ostensibly, we say,
the rejection of that obnoxious proposal was the
cause of the most wonderfully sudden reconcile-
ment of differences ever recorded in the annals of
the British Legislature. A reconcilement so'
abrupt and astounding, indeed, that it may be
described as having realised, politically speaking,
the dreams of the inspired rhapsodist ; for it re-
vealed a companionship as surprising as that of
the infant and the basilisk, when, at the same
council-board, there confronted each other admi-
nistrators like the youthful Duke of ARGYLL and
the veteran Sir JAMES GRAHAM—when there
were allied, under the same chieftainship, the
originator of the anti-Papal aggression move-
ment and a " leash" of the champions of ultra-
m ontan is-m—wh en the puling lamb emblematic
of the policy of )
ABERDEEN, could lie down
cheek-by-jowl with the redoubtable lion, sym-
bolising the policy of P ) 7rn.0../szed—: so far
as these reconciliations were
wonders
atition were in truth effected
Govern-
ment in the very process of itssofan
formation.. But
else
no further. Everything
importance
whatsoever was simply deferred untiyl a more pro-
pitious season. Nothing, in fact, was to be at-
tempted yet a-while but the stabilitation of
a
Cabinet which threatened, without this cautious
attention, to prove rather ricketty.
"Large
measures" of reform were mysteriously hinted at
as forthcoming ; but gradually even the rumours
of these "large measures" were allowed to die
out as somewhat perilous and inopportune. The
principal object held in view by the new Ministry
was, indeed, simply to delay, and delay, and de-
lay, until sufficient time had been allowed for the
anomalies of the Coalition to be smoothed away,
or, at any rate, to be overlooked. In consequence
of this, we have arrived at the close of the Session
of 1853 with just about as little as possible
actually accomplished !
Perhaps the most energetic members of the
Coalition have been the Secretary and Under-
Secretary for the Home Department. It is un-
doubtedly notable, of course, that we owe the
total abolition of the duty on advertisements to
the small end of the wedge having been introduced
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer into his finan-
cial propositions. But it must be recollected, like-
wise, that we are
unfortunately indebted to the
same Right Hon. Gentleman for the reimposition
of the odious Income T
with all its intolerable
imperfections, aggravated rather than diminished,
and with the terrible probability of its
Happily it is thus by virtualan
y
perpetuation:
means,Wvki Sri. ourselv not
s compelled to speak
adsv7aise of the re-
in miilgll4l44Rdtlll(l di
fornigtiftfih - 44_ ®land
~ ... , ntured (let
Gentle-
add:4)9%o/1r .7Ry, tih! oble Lord the s:es.
Learned
ret r, / ' . • c#V Y Id
ty'
ihkrew
,ki: y in the oftice of
ma! "45,1 'tqV or the closing of the
the Home par
LoadQu-liowtirVi a sexier of Peremptory

Orders in Council the inhabitants of the Metropolis
have reason to feel especially grateful to Lord
PALMERSTON. While for the humane stringency
of the new law inflicting severe penalties in all
future cases of aggravated assaults upon women
and children, every right-thinking man in the em-
pire must commend with all possible cordiality
the benevolence, the sagacity, and the prompti-
tude of Mr. FITZROY. Added to which that Hon.
and Learned Gentleman has yet more recently
done good service to the. community by his skilful
management of cab regulations—a proceeding ob-
viously calculated to prevent a vast amount of
insolence and extortion. It is well known beyond
all this that the Noble Viscount, the Representa-
tive of Tiverton, has for some time past been pre-
paring changes of enormous social and sanitary
importance—changes which, on the one hand, will
secure a better system of drainage to the capital,
and, on the other, tend to the total reorganisation
of our system of criminal jurisprudence.
Well would it be for the reputation of the Coa-
lition Cabinet if other members of it besides
those already mentioned, had evinced a corres-
ponding sagacity in the introduction of general
improvements. Such, however, has not been the
policy carried out in one single instance by others
of the chief Ministerial departments. Alterations
have been made in the blundering old plan of
manning the Royal Navy, but gigantic reforms of
a similar character yet remain to be attempted
under the guidance of the Board of Admiralty.
It is really melancholy to bear in mind the miser-
able abortion of a project brought forward by
another powerful Board that of Control—
for the re-imposition of the most grinding
evils upon the population of Hindostan, by
the
almost unconditional perpetration of the
execrable scheme of the Double Government.
Colonial questions generally have been left this
Session, for the most part, in a state of abeyance.
They will thrust themselves, consequently, upon
the attention of the Legislature somewhat later
on, with the force of accumulated importunity.
As for the conduct of affairs in the Foreign-office
during the existence of the Coalition, that, in
melancholy truth, presents to the popular gaze a
most saddening and deplorable spectacle. Its
" confusion worse confounded" corresponds, in
some measure, to the jumbled state of opinion
observable throughout the Government. A con-
sideration by no means matter for amazement,
when it is remembered that, within the compass
of the same Ministry, are comprised a " dear"
and " excellent" Under-Secretary of M. GUIZOT
like Lord ABERDEEN, and a chivalrous and
patriotic statesman like Lord PALMERSTON. Re-
membering that single coincidence, the unsatis-
factory course taken by our diplomacy, during the
progress of recent negotiations, may be at once
comprehended, if it cannot secure the national
forgiveness.
Therefore must we accept, without much sur-
prise, the unsatisfactory results of a not altogether
satisfactory combination. The country has tole-
rated the anomalies of the Coalition—it must
therefore submit, with the best grace possible, to
the anomalous consequences of its government.
Scarcely half-a-dozen months back Sir CHARLES
WOOD, in addressing his "kyind friends" at
Halifax, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM, in squandering
his rhetorical claptraps upon the " good men and
true" of Carlisle—degraded their high office as
Ministers of the Crown by referring, in terms of
the most gratuitous and contemptible insolence,
to the Imperial Chief at the head of the French
Government. Well—hardly half a yearhas elapsed,
and the Cabinet, of which these two are members,
is actingin concert (and that entirely and cordially),
with the Cabinet of the Emperor NAPOLEON!
Scarcely half-a-dozen months back, and the First
Lord of the Admiralty spoke loudly and fluently
enough about those " large measures" of reform
which he acknowledges to be absolutely
requisite for the good of the population.
Well—hardly half a year has fled by and the
session is closing without a whisper of those essen-
tial improvements. Recently, no one was more
uncompromisingly out-spoken than the Ron. and
Gallant Gentleman the Member for Middlesex.
Well—who now so dumb and crest-fallen ? The
Hon. Baronet the Member for Southwark
was formerly, we all know, resolutely ener-
getic in his advocacy of the Ballot and other
great projects for the popular advantage. Well
—the Hon. Gentleman the member for Bristol has
obtained, in support of his annual motion, the
silent vote of Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH. Won-
derful ! And these, and similar incidents, are
the attestations of the patriotic zeal, the high
principle, and the inflexible consistency of our
olla-podrida Cabinet, our omnium gatherum Coali-
tion, our Peelite-Whig-Radical-Conservative Go-
vernment.

Many a smile has been excited at the perverse
obstinacy which refused to assent to the reform
of the calendar, and to render the computation of
time in some degree approaching to the truth.
But while we ridicule the Russian for remaining
isolated from the rest of Europe, and calculating
dates according to the old style—while we clearly
discern the moat in his eye, we have remained
until a recent period wholly insensible of the
beam that obstructs our own vision. Although
every nation in the civilised world has abandoned
the "old style" of currency, we have persisted in
our L. S. D., fondly hoping that we should escape
the censure that our folly 'so eminently merited,
in consideration of the sterling value of our coin.
In one respect we were right. The English sove-
reign was nowhere objected to. But its welcome
reception was not owing to any supposed advan-
tage attached to the denomination, but simply
because it was known to contain 123-i grains of
gold of 22 carats fineness. Every English traveller
must have experienced the inconveniences and an-
noyances attached to our standard, and sustained
serious loss by having to confide in the various money
changers to whose ten dermercies he was handed over,
and our merchants have been even greater sufferers by
the complication of accounts and the amount of
skilled labour wasted, or at least misapplied, in
consequence of the system of book-keeping thereby
rendered essential. There could be no doubt as to
the superiority of the decimal coinage, which had
long been adopted in many of the Continental
States, and the extraordinary advantages whereof
must be apparent to the most superficial observer.
Unfortunately, however, there was much popular
prejudice in favour of our old barbarous system,
and considerable inconvenience should necessarily
be encountered during the transition by those
who had from long practice been accustomed to
the peculiar currency that constituted the circu-
lating medium in the United Kingdom. The
question then was mooted as to whether the
acknowledged benefits that would follow more
than counterbalanced the intervening difficulties,
and a select committee was accordingly appointed
to " take into consideration and report to the
House the practicability and advantages, or other-
wise, that would arise from a decimal system of
coinage."
That the Committee well and efficiently per-
formed the task
confided to their charge has been
clearly proved by the very able report which ap-
peared in our
impression of Thursday, and in
which, after a stringent
and searching inquiry
into all the details of the subject, they place the
Parliament and the
result of their labours before
country, accompanied by useful comments, and
many valuable suggestions for the solution of the
interesting problem. They record in the strongest
the improved
and most unequivocal terms their decided and
unanimous conviction
ofadthoeptnioantioonfal
benefitp that
would follow from the
system, and also of its practicability, and the coni.
parati ve ease with which it could be introduced at
the present time. The concluding summary is
decisive on these points ; they say—
" In conclusion, your committee, having well weighed
coinage
the comparative merits of the existing system o
and the decimal system, and the obstacles which must
necessarily be met with in passing from one to the other,
desire to repeat their decided opinion of the superior ad-
vantages of the decimal system, and to record their
a nature as to create any doubt of the expediency of l
conviction that the obstacles referred to are not of such
a nature as to create any doubt of the expediency of in-
troducing that system, so soon as the requisite prepara-
tions shall have been made for the purpose by means of
cautious, but decisive, action on the part of the Govern-
ment.

"Your committee consider the present moment espe-
-611113, mlapted for introducing the decimal system, in

consequence of the prosperous state of the whole com-
munity, including those classes which would be more
immediately affected by the change, and they feel the
importance of not allowing such an opportunity to be
lost.
" They believe that the necessary inconvenience at-
tending a transition state will be far more than compen-
sated by the great and permanent benefits which the
change will confer upon the public of this country, and
of which the advantages will be participated in to a still
greater extent by future generations."
Having thus stated the decision of the Com-
mittee, we may examine some of the grounds on
which they arrived at that conclusion. There
was the most perfect unanimity of opinion as to
the " advantages that attach to a decimal system,
as compared with the present system ;" the evils
of which they 'thus deafly point out :
"With regard to the inconvenience of the existing
system the evidence is clear and decided. The system is
shown to entail a vast amount of unnecessary labour,
and great liability to error, to render accounts needlessly
complicated, to confuse questions of foreign exchanges,
and to be otherwise inconvenient."

It will, therefore, be unnecessary to enter at
any length into these points. We shall, therefore,
at present only allude to the impediments that
exist to the adoption of the improved system.
These, as the committee state, are twofold in their
nature.

"The first arises from the difficulty which is always
found to exist in inducing the mass of the population to
depart from standards with which they are familiar, and
from modes of calculation to the defects of which usage
has reconciled them. The second obstacle arises from
the necessity of re-arranging the terms of all pecuniary
obligations, depending either on legal enactment or pri-
vate contract, expressed in those coins which, in the
event of a change in our monetary system, would cease
to have legal currency. This second obstacle, although
apparently the most practical and most serious in its
nature, is probably not so important in actual fact as the
other, owing to its more tangible character, and the op-
portunity which it therefore presents of considering and
grappling with its details. But an obstacle of so unde-
fined a nature as vague popular feeling, based upon
habit and association, and not upon reason, cannot be
dealt with on any general and abstract principles, and
your committee therefore purposely abstain from seeking
to fetter the discretion of the Executive on that part of
the subject."
As to the first of these points, there was the
experience derivable from the changes introduced
during the present generation, both in America
and Ireland. In the former, as a comparatively
new country, with a very accute and intelligent
population, the inconvenience was comparatively
trivial. But in Ireland there can be no doubt
that much discontent was at first excited, until it
was practically ascertained that there was no real
damage that arose from the change. But there were
causes for that discontent in Ireland which do not
exist in this country. The first of these points
was the nominal depreciation of the standard.
When a man contracted for a pound sterling in
the latter end of 1825, his demand was satisfied
by payment of 18s. 52d. in the beginning of
1826. Servants and. labourers, and indeed the
less wealthy classes generally, could not be per-
suaded at first that they were not plundered when
the smaller sum nominally was tendered ; and this
feeling was naturally increased by the second point,
which really inflicted some injury, viz., that they
could onlyobtain 12 pence in exchange for the same
shilling, for which, a short time previously, they
could have got 13 of the very same pence. The
man whose daily bread was provided by his daily
labour thus practically lost Bd. per cent. on all
payments under a shilling, a burden nearly three
times as onerous as would be the extension of the
Income Tax to wages of the lowest amounts. The
pence being, as we have stated, the same, there
was no reduction in price. The potatoes that
previously cost 2d. a stone were still sold at 2d.;
the meat, bread, everything remained unaltered
except the change of the shilling, which was re-
duced by one-thirteenth ; and this to the poor man
was a substantial practical grievance, but it was
speedily got rid of as prices adjusted themselves
to the new scale, and, as the committee declare,
it was soon found "that the injury was imagi-
nary."

The present change will not, however, be at-
tended with similar obstructions ; for, Ist, the
unit of value, the pound sterling, will remain
unaltered. No contract will therefore be dis-
turbed in that respect. And, 2dly, the poor
man will receive 25 mils for his 6d., in place of
24 farthings ; and as the mil will practically per-
form all the duties of the farthing, he will, in
place of losing Bi-d, gain 4 per cent. by the change.
There will therefore be no foundation for com-
plaints similar to those which were put forward
in Ireland, and no popular discontent to be con-
ciliated. We trust, then, that no time will be
lost in making the necessary preparations for the
change, which, now that public attention has been
directed to the subject, has become inevitable, and
the benefits whereof will speedily be ascertained
after it has been in operation for a brief period.

We feel it our duty from time to time to in-
vite public attention to the perfectly inefficient
protection enjoyed by our police- in their im-
portant, and on the whole well-performed duties.
Some most unpardonable assaults have been commit-
ted upon them, with far too slight punishment, since
the notorious CANNON received his deserts. Last
Monday the police reports furnish an illustration
of the penalties at which a half-drunken athletic
rascal may misuse a Queen's officer, until he is
actually unfit for duty. At half-past two o'clock
a.m. on Monday, Policeman INGRAM hears a ter-
rible disturbance while on duty in the New North
Road. Going up, he finds two men, SHEPPARD
and PALLEY, fighting ; he very properly sepa-
rated them by persuasion, and supposes they are
each going home. Suddenly, when INGRAM least
expected it, SHEPPARD turned round, seized the
officer in a peculiar manner, struck up his legs,
and flung him heavily upon his back on the pave-
ment, declaring that if he had not drunk so much
he would kick his inside out. It is clear he was
not too drunk to be master both of his strength
and skill. INGRAM sprang his rattle ; Serjeant
FADE, who, it appears, had previously been
a severe sufferer on several occasions in
protecting her MAJESTY'S lieges from ruffians,
came up. Seeing SHEPPARD on the top of
INGRAM and ill-using him, he pulled him off
and desired PALLEY to go away. Instantly
PALLEY seized him by the neck, and flung him
with such force and dexterity to the ground, that
he fell helplessly, with one arm bent under him,
injuring his arm so much that it is bound up in
a sling, and receiving such a contusion of the
head that he lay senseless for some time. While
thus senseless Palley kicked him till he was injured
and bruised all over, and is now, on the testimony
of the divisional surgeon, quite disqualified for
duty. INGRAM, getting up, was flung a second
time, and not till six constables arrived could the
two powerful villains be secured and taken into
custody. SHEPPARD, it should also be mentioned,
was out on bail to answer for a most brutal at-
tack on a publican ; for this the bailed man was
sentenced to a fine of 305., and each of them to
5/. fine for their attacks on the policemen, or one
month's imprisonment in the House of Correction.
A policeman, then, it appears, may have his head
contused till he is senseless, his body then kicked
and bruised till he is unable to move it, and his
arm well-nigh broken by any strong villain who
can raise 5/. ; or should a man in profitable em-
ployment, as these men were, have squandered
their large earnings in drink, one month of confine-
ment, and rest from labour, is the cost at which
he may indulge the most brutal and violent pas-
sions on the guardians of the. peace. It is ques-
tionable whether it will not oost the public much
more than the 5/. in the loss of Serjeant FADE'S
services, and whether he wiLl not endure much
bodily suffering far larger than PALLEY will en-
dure confinement. This mode of protecting our
aof as
Police must be changed for something more effi-
cient, or considerations of economy alone will
compel its
ability
t io ty d
superior
itrio Menr
to ofth
efirst:. class
average,will. character,not
engage lightly in such
a service, and men of a
lower grade would quietly look another way, and
let the SREppAR
DS and the PALLEYS brawl about
our streets till morning,than rather be half-killed
with comparative imfunity to the ruffians. In-
deed it would not be easy now to censure
with severity a Policeman rather tolerant of stal-
wart PALLEYS and STIEPPARDS •in their noisy street
brawls. He might well reply, " getter surely that
you should bear lying awake a little while,
and hearing a little swearing and cursing, than