The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-15 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1853.

moredi
Anything
sg-.---raceful than the foreign
policy of the ABERDEEN Cabinet has not been wit-
nessed, among public events, by the present gene-
ration. The truculent ambition of the CZAR has
been subserved by this policy in a
manner so de-
plorably and flagrantly pusillanimous,
honour of England is tarnished, its that the
authority is
diminished, its dignity is compromised. And all
this—owing to the absolute fatuity of
5 or .two
of the leading members of the Coalition. This,
forsooth, is the Ministry for the formation of
which so many principles were sacrificed, so many
ties and pledges were broken, so many reputations
were trailed through the mire of inconsistency !
This, forsooth, is the strong and energetic Ad-
ministration which the country was called upon
to welcome with cries of gratitude and pecans of
exultation ! Scarcely one session has elapsed since
its members were inducted into office—and al-
ready they have contrived to involve a gallant
ally in a maze of difficulties, from which it is
scarcely possible to discover any honourable means
for its extrication.

A summary of the occurrences which have taken
place during the last few months, will indicate in
the clearest manner the heinous culpability at-
taching at this moment to the Earl of ABERDEEN'S
vaunted but effete Government. However cur-

sory our allusion to late events—however vaguely
or inadequately those events may be here epitom-
ised—a hasty and even superficial enumeration of
them will be sufficient to remind the reflective of
the depth to which the national reputation has
been degraded within a wonderfully brief
val, by inter-
the rulers of England, in. the presence at
once of Heathendom and Christendom.
Everybody remembers, of course, how there

' suddenly grew up out of the " settlement " of the
Affairs of the Holy Places—the insolent demands
made by Russia upon the Sublime Porte through
the arrogant communications of Prince MENS-
CIIIKOFF, the then Ambassador from the CZAR at
Constantinople. It cannot speedily be forgotten
how those proceedings on the part of Russia had
been preceded by the most monstrous duplicity to
the rest of the European Governments. Pre-
cisely at the very time when it was thought
everything had been satisfactorily arranged be-
tween the SULTAN and the AUTOCRAT, in respect to
certain arrangements for ecclesiastical precedence
on the sacred soil of Palestine—precisely at the
moment when people were commending the libe-
rality of the firmans issued by the Divan in re-
gard to those long-standing difficulties pre-
cisely at this juncture, when the majority of
the great Powers were lulled into the forgetful-
ness of their former suspicions--the Emperor
NICHOLAS attempted the perpetration of a vast
crime, through the medium of a congenial Pleni-
potentiary. The demands made on behalf of the
CZAR by Prince MENSCHIKOFF must, if acceded to
by the Divan, have subverted the whole fabric of
the Ottoman Empire, by violating the rights of
its independence.
Turkey recognised this, and re-
fused yield—refused resolutely, and with the
icin
ess
of a formal and deliberate reiteration.
explicitness
tt
Europe, or rather the chief of the Western Powers
of Europe, France and England, perceived the
atrocity of the demands made by Russia on the
Sublime Porte, and supported the Divan in
their rejection. France at once boldly took
the initiative in protesting against the aggres-
sion of the AUTOCRAT—expressing her views
upon the matter candidly through despatches
in the Monitettr, and backing her protests by
forthwith concentrating her naval armaments
in the Mediterranean, at the mouth of the
Dardanelles. Not so was it with England. We
were unhappily at this crisis under the incubus of
a Coalition. Confusion was in the Council Cham- ,
bers of Great Britain—a confusion of views, of
policies, of parties, of principles. Beyond all
which the Ministry was presided over by a faine-
ant Statesman, notorious for his subserviency to
the interests of the despotic Cabinet of St. Peters-
burg. Hence there was on the part of England
hesitation. Hence there was timidity.
Hence there were shufflings, and changing,
and doubts, and delays, and evidences of the most
base and lamentable pusillanimity. The British
fleet was summoned to the Golden Horn by the
temporary representative of her Britannic MA-
JESTY'S Ambassador at Constantinople. But in
defiance of that urgent requisition from the ca-
pital of Turkey, the actual scene of the troublous
negotiations, our maritime force was reserved until
the eleventh hour by order of the Coalition—until,
in fact, its arrival at Besika Bay proved disgracefully
ineffectual, as far as concerned the prevention of
further complications. The Pruth was crossed—
the Cossacks formally occupied the Danubian
Principalities. Even then, even in the presence
of that lawless act of invasion, England was pre-
vented by the Earl of ABERDEEN and his col-
leagues from assuming the position which she
should, by right, at that moment have occupied.
It was timorously intimated, that, in the view
of the Cabinet of St. James's, the occu-
pation of Moldavia and Wallachia was
wrong—when our protest against that audacious
act ought to have been the instant dispatch of our
fleet from Besika Bay to the Bosphorus ! And so
our rulers have advanced from one blunder to
another, from one complication to another, from
delay to delay, from concession to concession, until
we suddenly find that Turkey has been aban-
i doned, that Russia is being truckled to, that the
Four Powers are placed in a false position, and that
the AUTOCRAT, with a show of reason on his side,
is haughtily dictating terms to the nations of
Christendom. Why, such is our diplomatic
abasement, that our Cabinet is at this moment
an object of ridicule to the Neapolitans ! Such
is the suddenness and depth of our political de-
gradation, that as a nation we are caricatured
about the streets of Constantinople. Scarcely can
it be wondered, indeed, after all this, that
the Turks are learning to despise the English
almost as intensely as they abhor the Russians.
Remember—for all which—we have to thank the
Earl of ABERDEEN'S Government !

We have received many communications re-
specting the contemplated decimal coinage, which
naturally excites considerable interest in the
public mind at the present moment. The univer-
sal impression is in favour of a change and the in-
troduction of a more rational system, one more in
accordance with those of other nations than that
at present in operation. A great majority of our
correspondents concur in the opinion to which we
have given expression, as to the vast importance
of preserving the value of the " penny " without
alteration, to which object every effort should be
directed. One to whose letter we gave insertion
on Tuesday very justly remarks that " pounds are
grown from pennies," and thus in the most com-
pendious form places the matter upon the true
foundation by a few words. All the difficulties at-
tached to the alteration—some few of which are
shadowed forth in the report of the Select Com-
mittee—all the inconveniences that must arise
during the state of transition, will be occasioned
by the abolition of the " penny," and the substi-
tution of the " five-rail piece," ten of which only
will be given in exchange for the shilling. It is
generally acknowledged that such a change must
occasion serious inconvenience to the working
classes ; an inconvenience in which the middle
classes—all, in fact, who purchase goods by retai
—must participate. We cannot forget that the
butcher, the baker, the milkman, the grocer, the
different tradesmen, in fact, who supply the daily
wants of families of the middle and less wealthy
classes, dispose of their goods in terms of pence. The
leg or shoulder of mutton, or piece of beef, is sold
at so many pence per pound, and the purchaser of a
single joint has also to pay for the odd number of
ounces, which are invariably charged at a higher
rate in proportion than the pound. This simple
fact, which must be familiar to every man of
limited income, at once indicates the nature of the
mils" loss that must be sustained. To each of these
tradesmen we must be contented to pay a num-
ber of c
exceeding the value in pence for-
merly
charged, and we greatly fear that the result
will be the substitution of the " five•rail
to
say ent. on
for the pennof twenty pery
of
that is the old system, practically a loss
all small transactions=
otnio the entire dealings of the
working popiila
n. The present prices
are sufficiently onerous,
to say that thereand we regret
is too much
° nlu
abroad amongst
who earn their
those
daily bread by their daily labourtch
induce o
If the
e
afford an additional well-founded cause of com-
plaint on trivial or insufficient rounds.
change is to occasion losses to any parties, th
should be encountered by those for whose especial
benefit it is to be adopted. The poor man
who
keeps no accounts, who has no complicated entries
to make in ledgers or day-books, cares nothing
about, and will benefit nothingby, the improvement.
Granted that the system is exceedingly absurd
and inconvenient, and that it is disgraceful to the
nation by which it is still maintained—still, the
artisan or operative who has become accustomed
•
therein, who knows nothing of to the existing coinage, and has made all his cal-
culationsdeci-
mals, and considers himself fortunate if he
has a tolerable facility of reading and writing,
and a smatterinc, of the primary rules of arith-
metic, can not in any way profit by the alteration.
The whole burden should not be suffered to rest A

upon his shoulders, creating confusion and re-1
peated altercations. This can be avoided by
making the florin of Is. Bd. the unit of the new
system. By that means only will there be no
alteration in the value of any coin now in circu-
lation, except the farthing, the amount whereof
in the hands of the public is of comparatively tri-
vial value, and which might be called in without
any practical inconvenience, if the cent, five
of which would go to the penny, were substi-
tuted. As we have recently shown, all the
other coins might remain without any difference
whatsoever until they were gradually withdrawn
on the introduction of the more convenient de-
nominations of half and quarter florins in ex-
change for, or even auxiliary to, shillings and six-
pences. The pound would be exactly 12 florins,
and we might thus get rid of every denomina-
tion but the florin and its centesimal divisions.
Any sum whatsoever in which fractions of a
penny were not included might be accurately ex-
pressed in terms of florins, without the most
trifling loss to either party, the debtor or the
creditor, the payer or receiver, the vendor or the
purchaser. The penny being fl. .05, or five cents,
any number of pence might be at once ascer-
tained without trouble or difficulty, and fairly
entered in the account-books : thus sixteen
pence, or is. 4d., would be fl. .80; six shillings, or
seventy-two pence would be fl. 3.60. Two pounds
twelve shillings and fourpence would at once be
seen to be fl. 31'40. There could be no difficulty
in making any calculation, and having but one
denomination of coin would greatly tend to the
simplification of accounts, the object for which
the change is required.

There is no other unit that could be adopted
which would accomplish the change with so little
partial inconvenience. In the dollar of 4s. 2d.,
as suggested by our respected correspondent
A. L., the farthing, or any smaller coin than a
cent, would be totally wanting, a serious loss to
consumers and the humbler classes generally. It
would have that great disadvantage as com-
pared even with the florin of 25., which,
next to that of is. Bd., would be decid-
edly the best unit. But that would occasion the
difficulties to which we have adverted. The Go-
vernment would not be satisfied with a stamp
value for four mils on letters or receipts. The
toll-collector at Waterloo or Hungerford-bridge
would reject 2 mils, and require 2i, if not 3,
while the gentle cabby, who, by Act of Parlia-
ment, is entitled to 2d. for each parcel carried on
the outside of his vehicle, if there are two or
more passengers, would fling down 8 mils with
contemptuous indignation, and, in disdainful ac-
cents, demand " Vot you vere a hoffering that
for ?" Indeed, the Committee foreseeing the in-
numerable disputes and altercations that would
arise, completely ignored the piece of 4 mils, as
an equivalent for the penny. The truth slips out
from the organ of the moneyocracy, when it says,
" that the burden will be almost imperceptible to
the consumer, and the Government will profit con-
siderably by the change." That, indeed, is the
reason for desiring to ignore the existence of the
penny. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, as
representing the Government, desires to profit
considerably without the public attention being
excited to the operation, and for that purpose all
the inconvenience is to be cast upon the working
population, which might be avoided by selecting the
florin of ls. Bd. as the unit of the new decimal
system.