The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

L')NDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1854.

The AUTOCRAT is beginning at last to find his
various hopes dwindling away in the hour of ex-
tremity. There are rumours of a defection from
his cause (certainly not until after mature delibe-
ration) of that Austria whose policy he at one
time regarded as identical with that of his own
.Government. There are not wanting reports,
even, among the more credulous, that Prussia
may ultimately be induced to withdraw from a
complicity with the designs of the CZAR, al-
though little heed can be had to those
statements at the very time when it is announced
that the KING is about to have a personal inter-
view with NICHOLAS; at the frontier town of Stalin-
poenen. However this may be in regard to the
two chief Powers of Germany, there is little doubt
but that Danmark, Sweden, and Norway are
ripe fOr a declaration of war against Russia, and
only wait to that end for the appearance of Anglo-
French troops along their coasts, or for some such
stimulating or encouraging opportunity.
Meanwhile the Asiatic frontiers of Turkey arc
being abandoned—the different fortified places hav-
ing been given up in succession, with the exception
of formidable and invaluable strongholds like
Anapa, which will only be relinquished, of course,
after their vigorous investment. Meanwhile, more-
over, the Russian forces find themselves compelled
to withdraw from the presence of the enemy, not
only in that quarter, but in another still more
remarkable—the whole of Lesser Wallachia hav-
ing some time since• been abandoned by the army
under GORTZCHAKOFF.

And Greece—Greece, too, has failed the CZAR
at the precise junctUre when its failure as an
accomplice could only be fraught to his Imperial
MAJESTY with the most bitter and irritating dis_
appointment. We learn, from intelligence dated
up to the Bth instant from St. Petersburg, that
the news of King OTHO'S surrender to the ultima-
tum of the Maritime Powers had caused the ut-
most dismay and astonishment. Nor can this be
wondered at. It can no more be wondered at
that the AUTOCRAT should be dismayed to find him-
Self deserted by the Court of Athens while Amu's.
still continues the Queen of Greece, than that he
should have been dismayed to find himself forsaken
by the British Ministry, with his friend of forty
years, Lord ABERDEEN, still remaining at the
head of it. as First Lord of the Treasury. Dis-
mayed or undismayed, the Emperor NICHOLAS
baa been most egregiously deceived and most tia-
grantly deserted in the hour of need and at the
moment of extremity not less by King
..,TRO than
The defection of the
by Lord ABERDEEN.
KING of Greece from the cause of his
ae
Imperial master can only be taken
a fresh illustration of OTHO's incorrigible faith-
lessness. Not—common sense and experience
alike assure us of that—not as any token that that
Monarch's sincerity can at last be relied upon
even for an instant. It would be simply ridica-
low- to imagine this for one moment, after the
revelation's of his monstrous duplicity now lying
before the world in official documents, given at
length and reliably in the important blue book
recently published by order of her MAJESTY
and laid upon the tables of both Houses of Par-
liament. It is all delightful enough, of course,
to know that the Ministerial traitors and the
military conspirators, recently plotting treasun
with the Court of Athens, have been everywhere
discomfitett It is, eminently satisfactory, no
doubt, to. hoar that the insurrection.; has been

i effectually put down in all directions—in Epi-
rus, in Thessaly, and in Mq.cedonia. It is
marvellously gratifying, to be sure, to observe
that the cards played so long with such consum-
mate skill by Mr. WYSE, her Britannic MAJESTY'S
Representative, and by his faithful colleague,
Baron ROUEN, are at length, in consequence of
their skilful playing, entirely in the hands of those
eminent masters of diplomacy—insomuch that the
old Ministry has been replaced by a new one, in-
cluding amongst its members KALERGI, one of
the more distinguished generals of the Revo-
lution, and ARGYROPOULOS, the learned and liberal
Rector of the University, and having at its head
the able and excellent MAVRACORDATO, renowned
as the MAVRACORDATO of Missolonghi ! But .—.O
these " buts"—can it be seriously expected
that King OTHO will be faithful, longer
than he can help, to his avowed submission
to the interference authorised by the Western
Governments ? Let the French troops recently
landed at the Piraeus be withdrawn—and how
long, think you, would OTHO and AMELIA
remain faithful to their new engagements ?
There is treason still at the heart of that Court at
Athens—faithlessness under that mask of affected
submission. Treason and faithlessness that only
wait for their opportunity.

A respected correspondent, who well merits the
designation " Common Sense," under which he
writes, alluded in a very able letter which ap-
peared in our impression of yesterday to " the
immense sums of unclaimed money" remaining in
the hands of the old banking companies in the
United Kingdom. It is well known that lost
or destroyed bank notes constitute a very impor-
tant item in the profits of the Bank of England.
We shall, for the present, limit our observations
on this point to the leviathan, but they are in
some respects applicable to every establishment
issuing its own notes. The full amount of gain
derived from this source is, however, known only
to the initiated, to those thoroughly acquainted
with " the secrets of the prison-house"—and
capable of examining the books and accounts relat-
ing to the paper issue of the establishment. We
may, however, safely assume that it must be very
considerable. If any person look merely to his
own experience, and call to mind the various
casualties that have occurred within his own know-
ledge, he may form some estimate as to the
r
amount of what may fairly be termed “ the wear
and tear" of bank notes. The wear and tear of
the gold currency of the country is generally cal-
culated by the best judges at nearly 3 per cent.
on the entire circulation. Gold is, however,
liable to a reduction in value through a loss of
weight, a danger from which notes are exempted;
but, on the other hand, paper is far more easily
destroyed by fire, water, moth, or many other
matters, than a metallic currency. So that,
taking all the elements into consideration, the
loss on the one may be assumed to be
about equivalent to that on the other.
If that be so, the annual loss on the
bank-notes in the hands of the public,
assuming the amount in round terms at twenty
millions sterling, would be about six HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUNDS sterling per annum. If; how-
ever, as the data are vague and uncertain, we only
take it at half the amount, we find that there is
at least THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS a-year
which is diverted from the Exchequer by the un-
wise delegation of the power of issuing bank-notes,
and which, under a sounder system, in place of
enhancing the overgrown profits of a private Cor-
poration, would become available for the main-
tenance of the National Establishment and the
liquidation of the national liabilities.
But there is another point of view in which
the matter must be regarded—one no less relating
to the welfare and prosperity cf the industrial com-
munity than the direct and positive loss of a
handsome source of revenue is to theoverburdened
tax-payers. It is known that on the ease or
tightness of the money market, or, in other words,
on the amount of the circulating medium in ge-
neral use, depends the well-being of the working-
classes ; inde2d, that circulating medium has been
happily termed the "very life-blood of industry."
One of the great and test-founded grounds of
complaint against the operation of the Act of
1844 was, that it limited, by an arbitrary rule,
the amount of paper that could by any possibility
come to the aid of trade, commerce, or manufac-
ture. Every bank note issued beyond some
twenty-two millions sterling--fourteen millions
for the Bank of England, and something
more than eight millions for other Joint
Stock and Private banks—must have a cor-
responding amount of bullion deposited in the
Bank coffers. No matter how great may
be the increase of population, or of business, or
of taxation, no expansion was allowed in the re-
presentative measures of value. Should that po-
pulation be doubled or even quadrupled—should
our trade and commerce increase in a still greater
ratio—there could be no addition to the circula-
tion ; which, although ample iu 1844, might be
totally inadequate to the wants of the people in
1854, and still more so in 1864. This palpable
deficiency has been frequently exposed, but it by
no means goes to the full extent of the grievance.
There are other matters of still greater import-
ance remaining behind.
It is not merely that the Act of 1844 forbids
any expansion of the currency to supply the in-
creasing wants of the community; but it goes fur-
ther—it provides for its gradual but steady dimi-
nution. We are enabled to know positively that
there has been a diminution of 700,0001. owing
to the failure of private banks, or to the agree-
ments entered into with the Bank of England by
the proprietors to withdraw their own notes, and
substitute those of the Old Lady. This grievance
was admitted by the Times, even before its
quarrel with the Directors, and when it was the
most enthusiastic advocate of the Bank Charter.
But nothing has ever been said of the withdrawal
of a much larger amount, namely, that repre-
sented by the lost or destroyed bank notes, which
during the ten years since the passing of the Act—
to say nothing of the 150 years which had pre-
viously elapsed since the establishment of the
Corporation in 1692—must amount to several
millions sterling ! " This," as the Times might
say, "This amount has created a vacany which has
been. filled up with gold, that might otherwise have
been employed for foreign payments." And it was
unquestionably " a circumstance which was not
intended, and which should be remedied forthwith
It may be said that we have exaggerated the
amount. We believe, on the contrary, that we
have underrated it. It is easy, however, for the
Bank to show the error, if there be one. From
what we know on unquestionable evidence of the
very illiberal conduct of the Bank, in reference to
lost notes—from the stringent nature of the evi-
dence demanded, and the vexatious delays in-
sisted on—no less than five years after notice of
loss, in the great majority of instances, and then
only with an unquestionable indemnity, we
are convinced that the amount—against which
gold must still be deposited, although it never
can by any possibility be required—has a very
perceptible influence on the national currency.
of Parliament
Some step should be taken before the prorogation
to remedy these crying evils, and
to prevent the heavy burden entailed on the tax-
paying community, by being called on to meet all
the expenses of.the war, after paying off no less
eight millions of the public
debt, from being ren-
dered more intolerable from a deficiency of the
circulating medium. We believe that the effects
of the annual " wear and tear" of bank notes on
the operation of the Bank Charter Act are well
worthy the attention of currency reformers, and
of every independent member who does not
wish
to sacrifice the creators and producers of national
wealth to the cupidity of the moneyocracy.

The Duchess of Inverness has issued invitations for a
grand soirée dansaate, to meet their Royal liighnesses
the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary.
The Earl of Ellesmere entertained a distinguished
circle of friends to dinner yesterday evening, at Bridge.
water House. The noble lord will hold a grand literary
eoiree at Bridgewater House on Wednesday next.