The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-04 00:00:00

S

fruitless endeavours to win over to the allies of
Turkey the co-operation—not the neutrality, but
the co-operation--of the Austrian and Prussian
Sovereigns ! We repeat it—unless upon this sup-
position of the councils of the Tuileries being palsied
or paralysed by the influence of the councils of
St. James's, now that the latter are represented by
my Lord ABERDEEN and his jangling Coalition—
the conduct of France, meaning by that, of course,
the policy of her EMPEROR, is, in truth, entirely
incomprehensible.
England and France united in cordial alliance
—says the Home Secretary—" are surely able,
by their own energetic action, to accomplish such
a peace as shall satisfy the conditions upon which
we think the security of Europe should be based."
Then, in the name of GOD and of humanity,
let them accomplish that peace by a display of
that energetic action ! If ever they had, they
have now, indeed, the capacity of so doing at their
command—armies and fleets, the like of which
for general efficiency they have neither of them
before this sent forth to do battle with a lawless
oppressor. The sword has been drawn—it has
been flashed long enough before the eyes of men
for the purpose, it would seem, of winning the
world's idle admiration. Let the inevitable blow
without further delay be stricken at once, and
boldly—and that two-handed sword of France and
England not sheathed again until the peace of
the earth and the rights of nations shall have been
accomplished.

Germany is now the millstone on the neck o
Europe. The Calmuc-hearted tyrant, who pre-
tended to converse, "as a gentleman," with au
English Ambassador, and whom courtly English-
men were weak enough to believe to be one in
their sense of the word, is not the real danger.
The agglomeration of despots, great and small,
who speak the noble language of the Teutons, will
seal the slavery of Europe, if enslaved it is to be.
The savage ancestors of the Germanic races had
the hearts of freemen ; they were at once the
terror of Roman Emperors, and the admiration of
the greatest of Roman historians. Their kings
ruled, but dared not tyrannise ; and if they had
slaves, in common with all the world, they were
not slaves themselves. Their very conquests
sowed the germs of liberty. England owes her
national soul to them. But, oh ! how changed !
Where free tribes once made Roman legions trem-
ble—behold, now a whole territory of crouching
little States! For even its two great Governments
are but a bundle of small States hardly kept
together by military chains. Some score or
two of little Principalities and Dukedoms,
&c.,— all dapperly bowing under the
rods of their petty despots, these again all
trembling before the contemptible man whom
the Prussian army is content to support, or before
the boyish inheritor of the Hapsburg virtues ; and
these despised or hated greater despots in turn
cowing under the scowl, or supplicating the help
of the " Mighty TZAR"-this is Germany. Were
German soldiers as noble minded as Spanish
soldiers now prove themselves to be ; would they
but refuse to submit to the infamy which brands
them in the eyes of every honourable and free
country, and were the German people but as set
on freedom as their untutored ancestors, Poland
and Hungary would then leap into life again; and
the CZAR might again, like his ancestors, for aught
Europe would care, lick the spillings of milk
dropped by Tartar Ambassadors from the manes
of their horses. An ignoble-minded soldiery, and
a bureau-drilled people keep civilisation and free-
dom beneath the varnished Tartar of Bt,
Petersburg.
It is most deplorable to think of the contrast
between the past and the present. As we have
just said, Germans planted with their race the
living stock of freedom in the lands they con-
quered, although they have suffered it to wither
and die in their own ; and their Emperors of old
did not do penance at the gates of Rome without
a long and a hard struggle ; but modern German
monarchs voluntarily kiss the toe of the lALAme. of
the Muscovites and Calmucs, and humbly thank
him that they are despots by the grace of
NicsoLas, and bless him for " keeping down their
people under them." The TZAR, moreover, and
leis hordes, unlike the old Germans, carry the
seeds of the most debasing slavery wherever they
go. The people are no better than their prince.
They glory in their despot and are proud of their
chains. Abject and unhesitating submission to
the will of one man, a man like themselves, is
their inborn creed. Not that they ignore the
usual vices of slavery ; of honour they literally
know not the meaning ; their most cultivated
men, after long residence in France or England,
can hardly comprehend the idea ; they confound
it with cleverness ; and downwards from the Chan-
cellor of the Empire, princes and nobles, to officials,
serfs and all, dissimulation, concealment, fraud,
and imposition, are universal. 'What an excellent
supreme example of these qualities they have in
their TZAR all Europe knows too well. This is
not mere declamation. Not to mention other
more questionable sources, let any one read DE
eusTINE'S Russia, now to be had for a trifle, and
that most truthful of writers will satisfy him that
we use but the language of sober truth. How
wretched the thought of such a people blighting
the civilisation of Europe by their influence, much
more by their conquests ! With all deductions
for Mussulman ignorance, conceit, and oppression,
the Ottomans are a noble race compared with the
Muscovites. They do know what honour is.
Their word is as good as an Englishman's. That
alone draws an eternal boundary between the
base serfs of the TZAR and the subjects of the
almost equally absolute SULTAN. Yet it is the
TZAR. and his slaves to whom Germany is now
willing to subjugate itself, and also the bodies and
the minds of the nobler part of Europe.
And this ignoble Germany it is which paralyses
France and England, through paralysing the
governors of the latter. The Monarch to whom
German potentates denied a wife owes them
nothing—or, rather, owes them what he will one
day surely remember ; but our country, to which
the said potentates have always been ready to
furnish matrimonial accommodation, is in a diffe-
rent plight. We see Prussia pinned to the
TZARINA'S petticoats, and Austria mesmerised by
the TZAR'S glances, and yet we dare not cut loose
from our Royal cousins, and send them to their
proper place—to Coventry. Our Ministers have
openly pleaded that they have protocolled away
the precious days of the spring, to get the co-ope-
ration of Austria and Prussia. We were promised
a glorious union of the Four Powers (?) against
Russia—a promise resulting in the contemptuous
slinking off of Prussia, and the unfulfilled engage-
ment of Austria to clear the provinces of Russian
troops—an engagement which proved to mean,
what all but the English Cabinet knew it did, that
if the Russians would walk away, Austria would
take care that OMER PASHA should not bayonet
,
them in the back.
Here, t
hen, we are, through the most culpable
truckling
to Austria. Here, we are, in the un-
healthy. heats of autumn, and winter to supervene
quickly upon them, without one serious blow struck
at the Lord of the Muscovites and Calmucs. The
Government prated about making peace at Constan-
tinople or St. Petersburg; but with knowledge and
design. sent neither the gun-boats nor the soldiers
essent lto making
have e peace
talked of protectingc e the place
advantage.the
Turks in the Black Sea, and of the impossibility
of leaving the menacing navy and fortifications of
Sebastopol as they are. Yet they permitted Si-
nope, and gave the enemy every opportunity to
fortify his Gibraltar of the Enable,
by
holding
back both ships and troops to the last moment.
What can be the real cause of this ? It is not
the power and the efforts of opposition Toryism ' •
that has all been exerted to make our Ministers.
Englishmen. It is rather because the Court of the
day must look at the connexions of the Head
of the Court; if they be tyrants and oath-breakers,
they must yet treat them as "Most Gracious
Majesties ;" they must wait upon their pleasure,
must uphold them against their subjects, must
keep brutally oppressed dominions in obedience to
them, and waste England's treasure and our
warriors' blood to save their goodwill.
We hope, when Parliament is prorogued, a
watchful press will do its duty. Its first one is

to knock off the German clog, or at least to expose
its unbearable weight on our Councils, our pockets,
and our military and naval movements. Its next
to make fully known the utter badness of the
despot and the Government with which we are
at war. We are persuaded few of our readers
imagine how ignoble is the nation which seeks to
domineer in Europe. We refused to see Europe
prostrate beneath civilised and intelligent France
and its great Frenchman, but to see it at the feet
of Muscovites, Mongols, Calmucs, and Cossacks,
with such a heartless barbarian as NICHOLAS at

their head, would be to put back the clock of the
world for a thousand years.

The Directors of the Bank of England yester-
day reduced the minimum rate of discomat from
5/ to 5 per cent. The alteration had been fur
some time anticipated. Many causes combined to
render it unprofitable to the Corporation to main-
tain the higher interest. The demand for pecu-
niary accommodation had materially fallen off,
and for the best of all possible reasons, because it
could be obtained on easier terms in Lombard-
street than in Threadneedle-street. Men would

not pay 5 per cent. to the "Old Lady" while the

discount brokers were ready and willing to supply
their wants at 5 per cent. The additional half
per cent. was just as well in their own pockets as
in helping to enhance the dividends to the owners
of Bank Stock. Besides, the effects of the exor-
bitant charges for the last ten weeks has been mate-
rially to curtail business operations, and thus fur-
ther to limit the demand. Their own intereststhen

Led to the tardy reduction, which would not have been

. ,
made if they could otherwise have hoped to obtain
employment for their capital. They therefore
deserve no thanks for the concession, and cannot

claim any credit therefor when required " to set
their house in order," and to prepare themselves
for the discussions respecting the renewal of the
Charter, which is rapidly approaching to its
termination.

Some time since, such charges for discount as
5,i or even 5 per cent. were seldom attempted,

and only under circumstances of the most pressing
description. The general range was from 3to 4
per cent., and at these prices trade and commerce
flourished. It was neither unduly stimulated by
exceedingly low, nor unfairly repressed by extra-
vagantly high charges. During the Commercial

Crisis of 1847 it rose to 5 per cent., at which
price it stood when the celebrated letter ofthe 25th
October, 1847, virtually suspending the B tnk
Charter, wasissued. Then there was a sudden spring
to 8 per cent. in consequence of the condition an-
nexed by the Premier and the Chancellor. The
commerce of the country was paralysed—many
merchants and traders were ruined—while all but
wealthy capitalists suffered severe losses. But
what signified the injury to the nation so long as
the Bank itself profited ? While others were re-
duced to the verge of bankruptcy the Old Lady
realised immense profits, and divided handsome
dividends, accompanied in many instances with
an additional bonus. Since that period money
has been so abundant that it has been readily ob-
tainable at 2 per cent., at which rate it was freely
advanced .on approved securities up to the close
of the year 1852. Since then it has been, from
time to time, advancing until the 21st of May last,
when it was fixed at 51 per cent., although there
was more than 12,608,0791. of bullion in the
Bank vaults at the time. There has been an
acknowledged increase of more than a million
sterling since—the last account stating the amount
at 13,633,6771. for the week ending the 22d of
July; and there is every reason to suppose that it
was even more favourable during the following
week, the statement respecting which will appear
in this evening's Gazette. And surely with nearly
fourteen millions of gold, even 5 per cent. is a
very inordinate rate, such as could never be main-
tained for any protracted period, at least without
a great sacrifice of profits on the part of the Bank.
It will thus be seen that the Act of 1844,
among its other shortcomings, has entirely failed
in preserving an equitable value of money, or
averting those violent fluctuations, which have been
truly dcsoribed as "oocazioning grouter mischief
than all the failures of the several banks of issue
that ever suspended payment." At one moment
we see interest charged only 2 per cent.,
money abundant in every quarter, and the
greatest activity prevailing on all sides. Within
a few weeks, before the contracts entered into
under such very different circumstances can be
completed, before the bills then drawn and ac-
cepted attain maturity, we find a stringent appli-
cation of the screw, and the charge enhanced from
2 to 4 per cent., at the mere arbitrary will and
pleasure of the Directors.
Surely this is not right or proper. They should
either be allowed full discretion as to their issues,
so as to suit the nature of the demands, or that
over the rate of interest should be taken away !
Why should there not be a sliding scale for that as
well as for the issue of notes, rendering both de-
pendent on the amount of bullion. The Directors
have abused their power as to the rate of interest
far more than as to the amount of their issues. If
one restriction be right the other must be still
more so. At present we confey a virtual mono-
poly. We prevent the wholesome competition that
would insure fair play to the public, and
then we allow the'monopolists to fix the price of
a ccrumodity which cannot be obtained ! This is
too absurd. If " free trade" in money is to be
still prohibited, and the stringent restrictions
established in 1844 retained, then give some pro-
tection to the merchants, and traders, and manu-
facturers of the country. Let the operation of
" the self-acting currency regulater" be extended,
and made applicable to the rate of interest. The
machinery is just as appropriate fur the one as for
the other.

Our readers will, of course, not suppose that
we are giving up our demand of the establishment
of a really national Bank, and the issue of a na-
tional small note currency. We shall never relax
our exertions for the attainment of these great
desiderata. But we are pointing out for the
edification of bullionists an additional defect in
their favourite measure, for surely if the auto-
maton, principle be good for any thing, it ought
to be fully and fairly carried out in all respects,
and the Directors should be bound as to the rate
of interest as well as to the amount of notes cir-
culated.