The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-25 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1854.

April the Tenth will assuredly be regazded as a
day somewhat memorable in the History of
NAPOLEON 111., as a date not the least interesting
among those which will be commemorated in the
record of his Imperial MAJESTY'S extraordinary
vicissitudes.

April the Tenth, 1848, found him, as an exiled
Prince in London, walking the streets of that
capital, in common with so many other private
citizens, in defence of public order as a Special
Constable.

April the Tenth, 1854, found him, as a power-
ful monarch, ratifying, in his palace of the
Tuileries, a convention of alliance between his
own and the British Government.
Between those two dates, six years complete
the interval connecting together incidents so won-

derfully contrasting each other in the career of this
remarkable personage. It is something, surely, to
have passed through those six years—six years,
moreover, marked by a succession of such mar-
vellous perils, and occasionally impeded, too, by
apparently insurmountable difficulties—it is some-
thing, we say, to have passed through those six
years in a manner so entirely triumphant that j
animosity is disarmed, that hatred is silenced,
that courtly panegyrics are heard in quarters
from which formerly one was only accustomed to
listen to calumny, scurrility, and vituperation.
Superficial observers would sometimes appear
to have imagined that a retrospect from the im-
perial sceptre to the police staff had in its con-
trast something like a resemblance to the
one step from the sublime to the ridi-
culous. It is scarcely possible, however, that
any one can seriously review the history of the
present EMPEROR of the French without deducing
from its annals a conviction that between events
like those just particularised there is.at once re-
cognisable a perfectly harmonious consistency.
The 10th of April, 1848, not one jot less
than the 10th of April, 1854, attested the cor-
diality of the friendly disposition with which the
Prince LOUIS NAPOLEON has throughout regarded
the English Government. On the former occasion
when his capacities for good or evil were restricted
.—when he stood in our capital as a private citizen
amenable to the laws affording him shelter, as it
were, within the sanctuary of the Constitution
the exile testified, by his participation in the
popular movement in defence of the outraged
majesty of those benign laws, the
depth of
nis gratitude and the cordiality of his friend-
ship. On the a I tter occasion, the sincerity
of that token of goodwill towards England has
been somewhat strikingly and certainly quite con-
clusively demonstrated. The EMPEROR has pro-
claimed through a solemn decree, published in the
Monitette, what the Prince by his personal acts,
six years ago, could only suggest :;o the popular
understanding, so to speak, inferentially. The
result of all which is, that under the reign of his
MAJESTY, a complete and cordial alliance
VIT9LOens blished between the French and Eng,'-
.
nts. That alliance has, under his
• ~
;;AngpiceiS"7; formally asserted through the
Royal and I
mperial Convention.
. iance so solid and practical, that
Radyislitit*complished au union between the

f
L
~~ t

two peoples such as the worldhassnoernedcoin7
ri
:1
of since the period of the Crusade_bi
together, for the first time, the maritimepowel
of the two countries, and conducting their soldiers,
side by side, under the alliegdainbsatnnthe commaersof
the
union-jack and the tricolour, a
enemy of Europe, the barbarian foe of its peace,
its liberties, and its civilisation. It is something,
we repeat, to have passed through six years .of
extraordinary peril, and at the end of those six
years to be grasping not simply a constable's
staff, but an imperial sceptre—and a sceptre
wielded, too, with such consummate skill that it
has come at last, at the end of those six
years, to be regarded with respect even by
the most virulent of the EMPEROR'S foreign
traducers, while within the boundaries of the
French empire it continues to be obeyed with
loyal devotion by a vast, a •valiant, a religious, an
enlightened,
Sand a highly-civilised population.
Others might be accused of adulation in speaking
thus in his hour of supreme success of the reign-
ing French SOVEREIGN. The charge, however,
cannot in any way be directed against ourselves.
It cannot for an instant be whispered against our-
selves, because in speaking of this extraordinary
man as we do now in his day of triumph, we speak
only as we did of him in his day of danger and
difficulty. Our opinions are in this matter not
opinions of yesterday, they are not opinions won
suspiciously by a success that sets at defiance all
opposition. They are only avowed now as they
were avowed long since, when to give them
utterance merely gained for the unprejudiced and
independent journalist the odium of being what
was termed at the time a " base exception," in
the midst of the prevailing storm of furious and
scurrile personality. Therefore, we maintain, our
opinions upon this subject have at least the value
of not being extorted from our judgment by the
mere violence of victory, but of being, on the
contrary, the result of perfectly logical deductions,
the fruit of calm thought, and of careful aud con-
tinuous observation.
At any period there is a moral discoverable in
the contrasts presented by these wonderful vizis-
situdes. At a juncture like the present, it can-
not but be more than ever deserving of the
popular consideration. Hence have we deemed it
reasonable at this moment to direct the attention
of the English public to the marvel of those six
years which have elapsed since the 10th of April,
1848, when the Prince Louis NAPOLEON acted as
a Special Constable in the streets of London for
the defence of Order and Law in England, and the
10th of April, 1854, on which the Emperor
NAPOLEON 111. arranged the Convention of
Alliance between France and England—a Con-
vention by which it is proposed that the two con-
tracting Governments shall restore Peace, and
Law, and Order to entire Christendom.

The drain of bullion still continues. The stock
in both departments of the Bank was, during the
week ending the 15th instant, reduced by no less
than 629,7261., leaving only 13,510,873/. on
hand, and that a further diminution will be per-
ceptible on the next return is unfortunately but
too well known. The Times tells us, in its City
Article, that " the whole of the recent Australian
arrivals have proved inadequate to meet the de-
mand for gold for the Continent, and a further
considerable sum has been taken to-day from the
Bank of England." It also states, in another
paragraph, that " the bar silver brought by the
last West India steamer was sold to-day for the
Continent." But how could it be otherwise ?
What reasonable expectation could be entertained
that other nations would abstain from provid-
ing themselves at our expense, or resist the
temptation to which they are subjected? We
expose the glittering prize ! We place no
restriction, no difficulty, in the way of
its acquisition ! And then we wonder that stran-
gers should avail themselves of the opportunities
afforded by the culpable apathy and indifference
of those charged with the control and manage-
ment of the national finances. It required not
the confirmation afforded by this untoward state
of afrars. Any person of ordinary experience
must have foreseen that such would be the case,
and might have foretold it without the slightest
fear of failure. Long since, we called upon the
Chancellor of the Exchequer earnestly and em-
phatically to adopt adequate precautions, either
to arrest the current or to provide an adequate
substitute, before a monetary panic, more disas-
trous even than that of 1847, shall set in to
paralyse the trade and commerce of the country,
and to bring distress and difficulty home to every
family who depend on their daily labour for their
daily bread. •
Unfortunately, however, not the slightest re-
gard has as yet been paid to these salutary warn-
ings. Mr. GLADSTONE still exhibits a perverse
obstinacy worthy of Sir CHARLES WOOD, and
either cannot or will not see the formidable shoals
and quicksands towards which he is recklessly
steering the vessel of the State. The iniquitous
Act of 1844, although never intended to be kept
in operation during a state of warfare, is still
maintained without modification or alteration of
any kind. And even now that a loan is about to
be contracted—for that is the plain and unequi-
vocal meaning of his recent announcement—he
does not ask even for the full amount of what lie
has abstracted from the exchequer for the liquida-
tion of old liabilities, but permits the public
balance to be reduced by more than two millions
sterling—aye, and practically undertakes to pay
off one million per annum of that amount, in ad-
dition to bearing the entire weight of the war
expenditure !

Can we wonder if every class of security, public
and private, are seriously depressed, when a
course so impolitic and calculated to inflict
such serious injury is recklessly pursued ?
Can we feel surprised if the Directors of
the Bank of England should resolutely oppose
his plans ? Hitherto they have succeeded
in baffling him at every point, and it looks as if
similar success would attend their future efforts
in the same direction. By depressing the money-
market and raising the rate of interest at the
critical time, they completely overthrew his con-
version project, and rendered it a melancholy and
humiliating abortion. By protesting (and very
properly so) against a financial policy based on a
system of deficiency bills, and rendering the
Government dependent on the accommodation
which the Bank might be able to afford, they
drove him into the market as a borrower, so
that the full extent of his failure might
be perceptible ; and now that they have done so,
they are making the arrangement more difficult
and costly to the country, for we find the
tank lending a large amount of Consols, more
than a million sterling, to the " Bears" of the
Stock Exchange, and sustaining the speculators
for a fall in their unpatriotic efforts to depreciate
the value of the public funds. We also find
large quantities of money stock thrown on the
market through the gentleman who generally acts
for the Bank, and, as it is universally believed,
on account of the Bank itself. The effect of
these proceedings has been alreadymanifeE;ted, and
it only requires that the minimum rate of dis-
count should be increased at the " Parlour,"
on Thursday, to complete the discomfiture
of the Financial Minister, and to greatly preju-
dice his already damaged reputation as a financier.
But will Mr. GLADSTONE bear these matters
patiently ? Will he still "turn his cheek to the
smiter" without any effort at a return ? If he
does so he must be of a singularly patient tempe-
rament. He has now an opportunity, without
even waiting for August, 1855, of trying a. great
experiment.
If he merely cause the proposed issue of
Exchei uer Bills to be made in small denominations,
in 10!. and 201., in place of 5001. and 1,0001., he
find that they will readily and freely pass from

hand to hand, and, in fact, discharge the duty of
a national currency just as well as Bank of Eng-
land, or any other notes of similar denominations.
He will thus find that he may safely reduee to the
lowest scale, or abolish altogether, the interest ;
they will still be readily accepted. If, then, he
issue 1/. billF, receivable in payment of taxation,
or any description of debts to the Crown, he will
liberate some thirty or forty millions of gold that
is now in use for the daily transactions of life, at
an expense of some 6 or '7 per cent. ; that is to
say, about 3 to 3i per cent. for interest, and an equal
amcunt for wear, and tear, and depreciation.
A really national note would, as we have stated
on many occasions, be just as valuable for domes-
tic circulation &I specie, and care might easily be
taken to prevent serious, or, indeed, any depreci-
ation in the value. Our monetary code must be
modified. Mr. GLADSTONE would be more or
less than man if he endured patiently the slights
and indignities inflicted on him, or sanctioned the
continuance of exclusive privileges which have
been used with such tremendous power for his
own discomfiture.

TWO MORE RUSSIAN PRIZES

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAP£I.)

PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY, 10.30 A .M.

The Argus crew Revenue steamer, Commander
Grandy, is now towing in a Russian brig, which
she has made prize of in the Channel. The Argus
received information of her prize being in the
Channel from a Cowes pilot, who spoke her.

PLYMOUTH, TUESDAY MORNING.

Last evening a Brixharn trawl sloop arrived here
with intelligence that she had left a second sloop,
in company with a Russianbarque, off Start Point.
This morning the Port Admiral and the Collector
of Customs having been in communication with
each other, the Government steam-tug Confiance
was despatched at an early hour to secure the
prize. She is reported to be laden with salt and
saltpetre, from St. Übes for Finland, and has a
compliment of 13 men.