The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-21 00:00:00

unceasing activity.

Where could better

officers be obtained than under such a system,
which would also improve the tone and character
of the private soldiers—each man remembering
that he was for the time being in a state of pro-
bation, and that his promotion and future pro-
spects in life depended on his own exertions and
his own good conduct. We know many mtzn
who, disappointed in their efforts to obtain com-
missions, or who, having served as officers and
been obliged to sell their commissions to satisfy
debts contracted through some juvenile impru-
dence, would gladly undergo any trials to regain
the position they had lost. Such men, if willing
to undergo the probation,,to pass through the
ordeal of a temporary sojourn in the ranks, should
be almost invariably promoted. They would :,e
experienced officers, their faults obliterated, and
their characters purified by the trials they had
undergone. We trust that these matters may
receive the attentive consideration of which we
are convinced they are so eminently deserving.

There is to be no financial statement before
Christmas ! It is true that a resolution reap- ..:-
hag Savings Banks was yesterday carried by • 'le
Chancellor of the Exchequer, but as the bill is l!ot
to be introduced until after the recess there is
ample time to consider the proposition of tile
Right Hon. Gentleman, so far as the same was
developed iu his brief speech when introducing
the subject, in order to obtain the formal
assent of the House to the introduction
of the measure. But no account is to be
given of the pecuniary position and prospects of
the country. The anxiety of the people is not to
be rolinved by any official intimation of the
course to be adopted, in order to meet the extra
expenditure occasioned by what may, we trust,
even at the eleventh hour, be found to be a
vigorous prosecution of the war.
The financial crotchet of meeting the entire
outlay from the annual revenue, of refraining
from placing a single shilling of the heavy
charges on posterity, for whose exclusive benefit
they were undertaken, and maintaining intact
stringent money regulations, never intended for
such a state of affairs, has already created diffi-
culties sufficient to satisfy " a friend to the
AUTOCRAT" of even more than " forty years'

standing."
It is, however, now very qertain that no pecu-
niary pressure, no difficulties of any kind what-
ever, will bo sufficient to disgust the people with
the War, or to lead to the anticipated demand for
peace. Men of all classes and ranks in society
cheerfully submit to any pressure, being will i:),-;
to testify with their pockets the devotion which
they would willingly seal with their blood if
the occasion required it. To the rich and powerful
these are but of trivial importance. At the out-
side they will merely be obliged to refrain from
some uncalled-for luxury, or to surrender some
passing fancy ; but with the great body of the
people, those who earn their daily bread by th,'lr
daily labour, the matter is very different. They
must be contented to abstain from comforts, which
habits had almost rendered necessaries, possibly
to curtail, to the utmost degree, the blxpply of
indispensaleln articles; They feel it very much.
They see it in ' the garments of themselves n-. 1
1 families, which have not received the usual rent , :,..
I tion. Now these persons thus cheerfullysubmittinif 4. o
these trials should not have the period unne,.,.?,s-
saiily protracted. Many capitalists are keeping
funds hoarded up in consequence of their igno-
rance of the Ministerial intentions, and the thick
veil of mystery in which the financial prospects
of the country are enveloped. Any intimation
given would be thankfully received, and might,
very probably, liberate funds now locked up, and
direct them into channels very beneficial to the
trade and commerce of the country.

Why, then, should Mr. GLADSTONE remain silent ?
Why should he, through an obstinate adherence
to precedent, prevent the relief that might other-
wise be experienced by the industrious classes ?
But if he seeks an example—if he is so strongly
bound by red-tapist fetters that he cannot take
the initiative in any case, but must act as his
predecessors did under similar circumstances, he
need not go very far back to find that which he
requires. It is barely two years since the
Budget was brought forward before Christ-
mas, the object being not the benefit of the
community at large—not the relief of trade
and commerce, or of the working population
of the country, but merely to obtain tho sense of
the popular.branch of the Legislature on the finan-
cial policy of the DERBY Administration. What
la chivalrous desire to meet a challenge and to
afford a suitable field fer the offered contest in-
Iduced Mr. DISRAELI to do in 1852 might cer-
tainly be followed by his successor,• when so many
and such important national interests are in-
volved in the result. If Mr. GLADSTONE, how-
ever, refuses to come forward, we must, however
unwillingly, be contented to await his convenien,'
to accept whatever he may condescend to offer.
Surely, then, it is time that the nation shou'd
shake off the apathy to which it has long yielded
itself ; that it should insist on greater aUention
being paid to fiscal, financial, and monetary sub-
jects by the Representatives of the people. Thek.,
matters are of paramount importance. Every
man feels the grass injustice of the present In-
come Tax, and 'the equal apportionment of all
receipts, no matter from what source they might
arise ; and yet, although nine-tenths of the Mem-
bers of both houses anticipated a revision of the in i-

quitouslaw, although Mr. DISRAELI had made a step
in the right direction, which was only objected to
for not going far enough, they patiently yieldul
to the dictation of Mr. GLADSTONA, and allowed
him to control the almost unanimous feeling of
the House.

Again, there was the strongest objection to cas-
ing the whole burden of the outlay on the present
generation, more especially as the Exchequer bad
just been denuded of its balances to pay off eight
millions of old liabilities, which would remain undis-
turbed but for the total failure of the abortive conver-
sion project. Those eight millions were demanded
back, but to avoid a trifling wound to the vanity
of the Right Honourable financier the majority
again submitted to abandon their own views, and
to submit with edifying humility to the dictation
of the Financial Minister.

it is impossible within the space remaining
available even to enter on the monetary question,
far the most important of all, and on which the wel-
fare and Prosperity of the nation chiefly depends.
We say enough, however, to bespeak attention to
the subject, in reminding the community that
provision must be made within. the present ses-
sion for the renewal or withdrawal of the Bank
of England Charter ; and, if the latter, the esta-
blishment of a fitting substitute in the shape of a
really i, ..._ s place.