The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-01 00:00:00

EXCHEQUER BONDS.

(P te P.
The motives which ini'om
fluhenced ress
th) e Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in his proposal for the issue of a new descrip-
tion of Exchequer Bonds, lie on the surface. An ex-
hausted treasury forces him at last to acknowledge that
necessity for a loan which he has long and strenuously
denied The Bank, notwithstanding hint and menace,
declines to depart from rules of safe trading at his bid-
ding. He finds that Deficiency Bills are not the ade-
quate resource which he once imagined them for meeting
war expenditure, and that the just measure of his need
taken at the beginning of the session (then rashly im-
pugned by him) has been most accurately confirmed by
facts.

He is now compelled to raise, in some shap or other,
those millions which, in pursuance of his abortive at-
tempt at conversion, be has just finished disbursing.
The amount of stock he has paid off at par could not now
probably, be replaced by a new loan at a higher rate
than 85. To raise six millions he would have to create
upwards of seven millions of stook, and the loss to
the public would, in consequence, amount to more than
one million of pounds sterling. The calculation is easily
made. No one can mistake what it is to pay off money
one week at par, and to borrow it the next at 15 per
cent. discount.
Mr. Gladstone may well shrink from coming before
the public with the plain statement of facts which the
proposal for a new loan would require. The proof of
his incapacity would be too glaring to render it possible
for him longer to remain at the head of the Exchequer.
To avoid so mortifying an exposure, he has recourse to
an expedient which he hopes will mystify the public.
But it is a common effect of cunning, that it heightens
those very difficulties which it hopes, by its artifices, to
escape. All those stock-jobbing contrivances by which
in the autumn Mr. Gladstone endeavoured to mask his
failure only made its ultimate exposure the more signal ;
and, in the present case, it is not unlikely- that his efforts
to bolster up his damaged reputation will only involve
him in deeper confusion.
The time is not favourable for those financial experi-
ments which Mr. Gladstone delights in. His theories
may be excellent, but unluckily there is always a hitch
in their working. The description of security he now
offers is as novel as the last pattern " just out" in a
draper's window. As it is quite untried, no test
exists by which its value can be estimated. As yet
we cannot learn that it is regarded with much favour.
It is neither well adapted for the permanent in-
vestment nor for the temporary use of money. All
its conditions depart as widely as possible from
established precedent. Thus—interest is to be al-
lowed on instalments not paid. From the nature of
the project no conjecture can be formed beforehand of
its success. We do not suppose that Mr. Gladstone
will willingly incur the risk of another failure by fixing
his reserved terms above the rate at which tenders are
likely to be offered, but he is groping in the dark, and
may easily miss his way. There is a general impression
that his bends will not be taken at par, unless they
should happen to find favour with the actuaries of in-
surance offices. His miscarriages have not only raised
a prejudice against him, but have impaired public credit.
\That trust which until lately was reposed in the accurate
calculations and sagacity of whoever might be at the
head of our finances exists no longer. With the prestige
of success has departed the confidence which so hugely
contributed to it. Supposing him, however, to be com-
pletely successful in the present instance, he will have
managed by his ingenious scheming to exchange so many
millions of stock bearing three per cent. interest to so
many millions bearing three and a half per cent. In
other words, be will succeed in adding 30,0001. per an-
num to the interest of the public debt. Such an achieve-
ment, though it shows his ardour in the cause of experi-
mental finance, will not elevate him in the rank of prac-
tical statesmanship.
As the loan is to be a temporary one, he can think

but lightly of the contest in which we are engaged. He
proceeds on the assumption that the war is to be a mere
brush, and its expense a bagatelle. With a total disre-
gard of what our financial state may be four years hence,
he decides that two millions of bonds shall then be paid
off, and the same amount in the two years following.
With this experience of his sanguine temperament, we
only wonder that he does not proceed further, and pro-
vide that the whole national debt shall be extinguished
at certain fixed periods. A Treasury mandate might be
as effectual for one purpose as the other.
In its littleness the scheme is in exact accordance with
the whole policy of Government. It ignores the fact
that we are engaged in a mighty struggle, which will
probobly be of long duration, and will assuredly press
heavily on our resources, and call for enormous expendi-
ture- While our anta;onist is preparing for a desperate
and prolonged contest, our Chancellor of the Exchequer
thinks it sufficient to see his way for a few weeks before
him, and makes provision for the cost of a European war
as he would for the expense of an encampment at
Chobham.

THE LATE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.

The following address was signed by an immense
number of the tenantry of the late Marquis of London-
derry, a short period before his lordship's decease, and
having been recently forwarded to the Dowager Mar-
chioness of Londonderry, accompanied by a letter of
condolence, her ladyship returned the subjoined reply.

" ADDRESS.
" To the Most Noble Charles William Vane, Marquis of
Londonderry, K.G., Sze., &c.
"My Lord,—We, the undersigned tenantry on your
lordship's Down estates, aro desirous of coming for-
ward at the present time to express the cordial and
heartfelt attachment which we entertain to yourself and
your family. We hail with sincere joy the kind ex-
pressions to which you have given utterance, in your
letter to us of December ith, 1853. We trust that, as
your lordship so well describes it, " the happy bond of
loyal attachment and affection, so long established and
prevailing between your family and their tenantry,' may
ever continue ; and we hope that you may never have cause
to address them in any other strain than that of satisfac-
tion, at the faithful discharge of the obligations due to
you as their landlord. Whilst we deeply regret that the
conduct of any should have been calculated to wound your
lordship's feelings, and are sincerely desirous that there
should be an oblivion of the past'—we beg to assure you
that nothing shall be wanting on our part to convince
your lordship, that we have a proper reliance' on the soli-
citude for our welfare which we have so often experienced
at your hands, and that we shall studiously and anxiously
endeavour in every way to promote the good feeling,
which at present, we are assured, generally exists on the
part of the tenantry towards your lordship
We fervently pray that a merciful Providence may
long spare your life ; that the remaining years of it may
be peaceful and happy, that you may be cheered by the
cordial and sincere attachment of a contented and flourish.
ing tenantry, and surrounded by every blessing which this
world can afford."

"'luny OF THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS.
" Holdernesse House, April 15, 1854.
" It has been with mingled feelings of regret and gratis
fication that I have received an address from the
tenantry of the County of Down Estates—regret that so
affectionate a testimony should have arrived too late to be
presented to him for whom it was originally intended—
gratification that you should have affordd so convincing
proof, that you appreciate the discernment and rectitude
of principle that ever actuated my beloved husband's con-
duct in the relationship between him and his Irish
tenantry.
" While entertaining deep sorrow that he was not per-
mitted to witness the tribute of respect and affection you
had prepared, the reception of which would have caused
so much satisfaction and pleasure to his warm and gene-
rous heart, I feel deeply grateful, that your spontaneous
testimony should give an incontrovertible reply to the cen-
sure and criticisms formerly passed on the actions of one,
whose sole desire, I can bear witness, was to act towards
you all as a kind landlord, and to deserve the place he
ever wished to held in your hearts as the father of his
tenantry.
" Although removed by marriage to another country be-
fore he succeeded to the family estates and title, he afways
devoted a portion of every year to his paternal hearth, and
ever loving the bright green isle of his birth, he gloried in
the name of an Irishman.
" For your kind pity of my desolation and misery, ac-
cept, I pray you, my grateful thanks.
" For me, the sun of life seems to have set for ever.
The remainder of it must be sad and solitary, soothed
only by the sympathy of his offspring and his friends •,
comforted only I,y the remembrance of his affection and
his goodness ; but your address will be treasured as an
heir-loom, and will descend to his children's children a
record of your appreciation of the landlord you have lost,
whose name, as a soldier, will be written in imperishable
letters on the brightest pages of history, and whose vir-
tues, as a husband and a father, none can know but the
inconsolable widow and- the sorrowing family he has left
to mourn his irreparable loss.
Your grateful and olifdient servant,
FEAIsICE VAZiE LONDOIWEBBY.
—Belfast LYA73 Liter,