The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-11 00:00:00

SELF-PRESERVATION,

A Medical Treatise on the Philosophy of Marriage, and Nervous and
Generative Debility, illustrated by fifty coloured engravings, and des-
cribing in detail the various disorders resulting from secret habits and
excesses. The perusal of this treatise will assist in the correct
description of their cases, and may be had, price 2s 6d, in English,
French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, or German, of Messrs. Piper
Brothers and Co. 23, Paternoster-row; Hannay, 63, Oxford-street ;
Mann, 39, Cornhill ; Storie. Titchborne-street, Haymarket; or free
oy post for forty-two stamps, to any addresa from the Author's resi-
dence, 37, BEDFOItD.S4),tiAItE, LoxDozi.

thisSOUTH worksrously wauesdtwaof
to
wa"reAlbEeSingllpAirLowsetrutd—edT:isrliego
landed on the banks of the Towyond another cargo has
satisfac-
torily. A cargo of rails for the permanent way has been
been disembarked at St. Clears, where operations for
laying the rails will, it is anticipated, be commenced in a
few drys. The embankment from the Ystrad propetty to
the edge of the river Towy, on the Rhydygors side, has
been all but finally completed, and the works at the
bridge are being pushed forward as rapidly as circum-
stances will allow. There seems to be no lack of energy
or activity on the part of the officials to secure the open-
ing of the line into Pembrokeshire at an early period.
In connexion with this important national undertaking,
we may mention that Mr. Brunel passed through this
town on Wednesday last en-route for Milford Haven, to
complete his inspection of the site of the proposed rail-
way terminus and docks, the bill for promoting which is
now before Parliament, and will most probably pass this
sessiou. The time, therefore, is not far distant when
Pembrokeshire will become as important a county as
any in4the kingdom, and probably as prominent a feature
in the geography of the world as even Australia itself.—
Welshman.

YIELD OF GOLD. The Melbourne Argus estimates
that the total yield of all the gold fields from October 1,
1851, to the end of December, 1852, amounted to nearly
sixteen millions sterling

The Chancellor of the Exchequer very aptly
compares the National Debt to a first-class fortress,
which is not to be approached without the greatest
circumspection. He cannot walk over it at once,
as Wellington took some cities in Spain, hardly
stopping in his march for the purpose. So lie
attacks, or rather menaces, the debt on three
sides, leaving time to show which demonstration is
the feint, and where the actual assault is to be
wady. At this moment it is a matter of doubt
whether the 500,000,000/. 3 per Cents. are to be
cut to' pieces with a stock of greater interest, and
less capital, or undermined by a stock with greater
nominal capital but less interest, or flooded by in-
undations of Exchequer bonds, so issued as not to
recoil on their authors. We must be pardoned if
we lament the necessity of operations so opposed
to the simplicity aid boldness of modern strategy.
Had a Chancellor of the 'Exchequer come forward
and said, " Here are thirty millions of 3i per
Cents. with certain peculiar conditions, and an
equal number of 2i per Cents., and about the
same number of bonds of a hybrid character, partly
stock, and partly propose to reduce them
all to one common form, and then we shall know
how to deal with them," we are not quite sure that
the very simplicity of the proposal would not have
carried the public approbation. Simplicity,. of
course, is often a mistake. Thirty years ago sim-
plicity was the rage. As in architecture, so in poli-
tics, all was Doric, harmonious and grand. That
fashion is gone, and we have, Wesigns. Certainly lapsed into more com-
posite, as wellas more conyenie
the present is atrexample Of the new er taste, and only
happens to be too like its author. Were that gentle-
man a highwayman, he would not be content withpro-
pounding the two alternatives usually addressed to
the traveller. He would bewilder his victim with
a third or a fourth, so nicely .balanced as to invite
comparison even under those trying circumstances.
So, when Mr. Gladstone offers the fundholder, in
return for his 3 per Cents., money, or per Cents.,
or 2 per Cents., or something neither money, nor
bills, nor stocks, but a little of all.three, and partly
n per Cents., partly 2, per Cents., it is impossible
not to trace the paternity of the scheme, though we
have not disputed, nor
,do we dispute, that the
measure may be the very one suited to the emer-
gency, and Mr. Gladstone, consequently, the very
man to meet it.
Very great men have not always been clear either
in their objects, or in their means, or in their ex-
pression. Cromwell and. Castlereagh were equally
past understanding. To come home to finance,
Bexley's speeches and measures were both enig-
matical. Now, what is the object of Mr. Glad-
stone's present scheme ? He says it is to lay the
foundation of an irredeemable 2 per cent.—that
is, we presume, eventually to reduce the interest
of the whole debt from 3 to 2i. But, singularly
enough, the only alternative under no immediate
limitation is that which raises the interest to 3i,
with a decrease of the capital, the former being a
reality, as Mr. Gladstone takes pain
i s to. show—
the latter only a name. Then, it s difficult to
see the use of diminishing the interest, except
with a view to dirninising the debt, and it may
well be asked what is the use of making a debt
redeemable at par 40 years hence, if that remote
boon is to be purchased by raising the figure at
which redemption must be made from 100 to 110 f
If we are to go on paying interest for ever, then
it matters not whether the nominal capital be
increased or diminished ; for were all the
500,000,000/. 3 per Cents. changed into Mr. Glad-
stone's new 2 per Cents., even on the increased
capital we should pay a less aggregate of interest
than we do now. But we hope not to go on paying
interest for ever. We hope to make the fund-
holder take his money and be gone. That must
be the ultimate•end. of all these operations ; and,
on the supposition we have just mentioned, we
should certainly have to pay him 550,000,0001.
This does not look like keeping the great end in
view, and, while we are laying a good foundation
for an intermediate object, we seem to be sacrificing
the great object for which all our foundations and
intermediates are intended. It is true we are re-1
minded that if we only put our annual savings of
interest into a box, and open the box in 1894, wd
shall find the 50,000,000/. to a farthing. Ay, but
what if we spend our annual savings in war
steamers, and harbours of refuge, and Mediter-
ranean fleets, and in fortifications at Alderney and
Corfue---where shall we iinct,,our 50,000,000/. ?
Hapinly; as we think, thti p*t'entiality of mis-
chief is obviated.' The " foundation.' is to be
Ismail and experimental,—a mere 30,000,0007., in-:
volving only a possible addition of 3,000,000/. td
the debt. But the inconsistency of the measure!
and its professed object are hereby much increased,
for while the 2i per Cent. Annuities and 2 per Cent.'
Bonds are both limited to 30,000,000 each, the
only form of commutation to which there is no
limit whatever, and which is permitted to thei
whole extent of the 500,000,000/.2 is that of the 41
per Cent. Annuities. What becomes, then of the',
great foundation of a 2i per cent. stock, which Mr.l
Gladstonedescribes as the great aim of Governments
and the very key of his resolutions ?

Notwithstanding this complexity of means and;
indistinctness of purpose, the resolutions, as they!
now stand, have many recommendations. The
only unlimited alternative is one that would give,
us immediately a respectable saving in the interest
of our debt, and a very great saving in the capital,
to be redeemed forty years hence.. The other al-I
ternatives are limited to safe amounts, and only to
be extended if found to answer. With 20,000,0001.
commuted into the ai per Cents., against 30,000,000/.
into the 2i per Cents., we should still diminish
the capiW. The Exchequer bonds are at least a,
safe measure. They would effect a great saving,
at once, to be doubled shortly, and would be alto-
gether redeemable at the end of 40 years. On each
side, hoivever, there is a drawback. If the new Ex-
chequer bonds are found to answer the same purpose
as Exchequer-bills—and therein principally stands
the expectation of their finding favour with the
public—will they not compel a higher rate of in-
terest on Exchequer-bills to get the latter into,
circulation ? the other hand, these Exchequer
bonds and these .coupons are to be as transferable
as a Bank of England note. Of course, they will
be .just as liable to be stolen, and just as easily ne-
gotiated and cashed by the wrongful possessor.
This, however, is the holder's risk, and perhaps we
need not talk about it ; but when we are told that
these bonds are to form the material for provincial
Stock-Exchanges, to supersede large balances at
the country and London bankers', to enter into
speculation at the continental Bourses, and to be
carried like circular notes by careless tourists from
city to city, in pockets and portemonnaies, we can-,
not help fearing that a good many will find their
way into, bad hands. Another 'danger, of course,
is the holder's risk. The new Exchequer bonds
can hardly fail to fluctuate in value quite as much
as' Consols. Convertible only forty years hence,
they will almost fulfil the idea, so much desiderated,
in some quarters, of an inconvertible paper cur-
rency. How much will they occasionally fall in
value when even Exchequer bills payable on de-,
mand a few months hence have been at 31. or 41.
discount ! That, however, is the holder's risk/.
and, in spite of these drawbacks, we have little
doubt that the new bonds will be a favourite se-,
curity,
himselftheand Civhnanockeeldlotro oifsstuheeaEnoxtchheerquerwil
soon find batch.

( From the Morning Herald. )
The resolutions proposed by Mr. Gladstone oni
Friday night are intended to be the foundation of
a financial operation which it is not at first easy to
understand. The plan suggested is one not en.
Ftirinelaynceconmsiisnitesntterwi,
anthdtvheerypgessed object of the
indeed, from being
consistent with itself. The only recommendation;
indeed, which was strongly urged by its author,
was, that while it was an experiment in every con-
ceivable direction, in none could it carry the ex;
periment so far as to produce any serious amount
either of evil or good.
Let us say in the outset, that we entirely object;
even upon's, limited scale, to experiments upon such
a subject. Public credit depends upon public
opinion. Public opinion, it is avowed, is intended
to be diverted by these experiments.lt is said
that one great object of the measure is fami-
liarise the public mind to a Two-and-a-Half per
sCme
pnsoti .sosniSttltoehc
takot whether
dealTh tarhr
fgotuirime evilepnutbo
public
is,
g,
oi
securities,
ifact,tan ad.-
is
utterly
i even
to a limited extent, without seriously affecting
that opinion upon which public credit depends.
The national funded debt of this country con-
sists, not of sums of principal money, which the
nation has undertaken to repay ; it consists entirely
of annuities chargeable upon the revenue of the
nation--annuities of which the nation can only get
rid by paying the principal sum which they repre-
sent. Every person who holds 1001. in the Three
pet Cent. Consols is entitled to receive from the
nation a perpetual annuity of 31. a year until the
nation may be in a position to extinguish that an-
nuity by paying him 1001. But the 'payment of

A more serious objection ties in the fact that we
have bound ourselves to every holder of this stock
not to pay him off without a year's notice. Mr.
Gladstone refuses to undertake to produce the
money at the end of the year. The possibility of
his being able to obtain it at the end of that period,
without great loss to the n.ation, would depend
upon the then price of stocks. He would be a bold
man who would answer what that may be in twelve
months.

Delivered, therefore, as lie.conceives himself,
from any attempt to deal with these funds upon the
old principle of offering the, holders the option of
accepting new terms or being paid off, we might,
perhaps, have expected that Mr. Gladstone would
have left them alone. Not so. He adopts the
novel, and, we cannot help thinking, rather ques-
tionable, course of offering to the national cre-
ditor a new bargain, which he may > either accept
or remain exactly in his present position entirely
at his own option.. By what considerations will
that option be determined ? Solely by those of
his own interest. If new terms place him in
a more favourable position ' than the old, he will
accept them ; if not, he will reject them, and
remain as he is. The transfer into the proposed
new stock can only take place when the fundholder
believes that by taking it he drives a harder bar-
gain with the nation. No man will part with what
he has for something which you propose to give
him unless you persuade him that what you offer is
something better than that which you ask him to
give up. Unless, therefore, Mr. Gladstone's pro-
posal enriches the fundholder, it falls to the ground
utterly- abortive,. Ho either offers the owner of
stock something worth more. than his annuity of
three per cent. or he does not. If he does, the
nation is the loser ; if he does not, the stockholder
will reject his terms, and tho debt remains exactly
as it is.

Pointing out, -then, the wide difference between
a proposal like that made br. Goulburn, which
you enforce by the alternative of paying off the
principal; and that now made by Mr. Gladstone,
which will only be accepted on the ground that it
pats the fundholder in a better position, let us
state what are the terms which Mr. Gladstone offers

as an inducement to the fundholder to give up his
3 per cent. He offers him his choice of three se-
curities. First, he offers him for each hundred
pounds of stock, producing an annuity of three
pounds, a sum of 82/. 10s., paying an annuity at
the rate of 3i per cent., and with a guarantee that
it shall not be redeemed for a period of forty years.
Secondly,. he offers him for each 1001. a sum of
1101. in a stock that is to pay 2 per cent., and
a guarantee that it is not to be paid oft' until
1894.

That is, the holder of every 1001. of present stock
may choose either to have an annuity of 21. 17s. 9d.,
liable to be redeemed after forty years by a pay-
ment of 821. 10s. ; or an annuity of 21. 155., liable
to be redeemed' after the same period by a payment
of 1101. The fundholder • raa,y select whichever of
these proposal& he shall think most disadvantageous
.to the nation, or he may retain his present annuity
of 31., redeemable by 100/., the Chancellor of the
-Etchequer having kindly agsured him that it is
impossible it ever can be redeemed.

It must .not be forgotten that at the very last
moment Mr. Gladstone wholly altered his original
-plan by limiting the new Two-Mid-a-Half per Cent.
Stock to thirty. millions. We do not now pause to
inquire what confidence can be placed in the Fi-
nance Minister who actually submits to Parliament
so vitally-important a scheme, and•at the last mo-
,hhers it in so essential a part. It would not
be difficult to show that had the original plan been
adopted, the only effect would have been that the
whole of our debt would have been converted into
unredeemable annuities, and so far as the national
liabilities are concerned, the producing classes and
the agricultural interest would have been robbed of,
all the benefits which are accruing from the recent
discoveries of gold.

We will not say that this was the object, but
most assuredly this would have been the effect of
the plan. One other alternative, however, he still
offers to the public creditor, subject to a similar
limitation of the issue to thirty millions. The
holder of 100/. stock may, if he pleases, receive an
Exchequer. Bond for 1001. bearing interest at 21.
155., 'and likewise irredeemable for 40 years. The
conditions of these latter ' securities are to be
named to a great degree at the discretion of the
right hon. gentleman'himself.

For these " coupons " the right hon. gentleman
seemed to claim the merit a originality of concep-
tion, expatiating largely on the advantages that
attend every security bearing interest, and at the
same time transferable by mere manual delivery.
Whether the system of representing the national
liabilities by such documents be right or wrong, it
had been previously tried, and deliberately aban-
doned. A very large proportion of the Irish debt
was represented by, debentures, or, in other words,
by these Eichequer Bonds. An act of Parliament
was passed to convert, or enable the holders to
convert them all into the ordinary stock.
We have endeavoured to put our readers fully
in possession of the nature of this mischievous, and
at the same time peddling plan. We will demon-
strate when next we advert to it that the transfer
of any • portion of our present liabilities into any
one of the proposed substitutes would be attended

with' the most serious injury to the nation. At
present we can only point attention to the one un-
precedented feature, which is sufficient to con-
demn the plan. The change of security is to be at
the option of the fundholder, and, if effected at all,
can only be effected in consequence of his persua-
sion that it benefits' him at the irrational expense.

(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The success of the financial scheme which the
Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward on
Friday night is a matter of great public im-
portance, while the tactics of Parliamentary fac-
tion excite at present but a limited interest. It
may, however, be,incidentally remarked that the
members of the late Government display a charac-
teristic want of judgment in treating a project for

Sir Fitzroy Kelly's argument was intended to
show that, of three proposed securities, only one
would be selected by capitalists. And if so, what
then ? Investments in the Two-and-a-Half per
Cents. Would produce a clear profit to the public,
even if a sinking fund were 'set aside to absorb the
future increase in the nominal capital of the Debt;
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is of course pre-
pared to satisfy a demand for any ,class of the New
Securities which he offers, though it should be
exclusiVely preferred. Sir Fitzroy Kelly wastes a
good deal of energy and ingenuity in proving that
the Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Stock will be a more
desirable, purchase than either Three-and-a-Half
per Cents. or Exchequer fonds. The calculation
is irrelevant to the question which Parliament has
to decide, and itassuraes throughout the Treasury
will be bound in 1894 to pay off the new stock at
par. From the beginning of the discussion to the
end, all the opponents of the measure seemed to
forget that the Government can buy up its. own
securities in the market, instead of dealing directly
with the whole body of creditors.
If Two-and-a-Half per Cents. are, under the pro-
posed scheme, cheaper than Three-and-a-Half per
Cent. Stock, capitalists in general will of course
prefer them ; and there is little doubt that such
will, in fact, be the case as to the majority of
investments. But the objection to a threefold al-
ternative of conversion involves the erroneous as-
sumption that all purchasers require precisely the
same commodity. Sound policy suggested the
prudence of making the new experiment as varied
and exhaustive as circumstances would allow ; and
Mr. Gladstone's 'measure is intended not merely, to
test certain very important facts and probabilities
in finance, but also *to satisfy the different wants of
classes placed in the most dissimilar positions. A
man may sell shoes and boots in the same shop,
without subjecting himself to the reproach of
caprice or inconsistency. Sir Fitzroy. Kelly may
persuade himself that the dealer makes a somewhat
larger profit on the boots ; but his inference that
those who require shoes will not buy what they
want, is, to say the least, somewhat hasty. Mer-
chants and bankers have frequently occasion for a
portable security which pan be deposited or passed
from hand to hand as often as convenience may
suggest. Trustees and persons living on fixed in-
comes require investments of a totally different
character ; but according to the ex-Solicitor-
General, both classes ought to forego their re-
spective habits and interests, if they can save 6d.
per cent. by the operation. Mr.. Gladstone has
ascertained that, the portable character of foreign
securities adds some shillings in the pound to their
value ; but Sir Fitzroy Kelly altogether disregards
any facts of this kind, in the ardour of his investi-
gations into the deferred value of 101. forty years
hence, which the State, as it happens, will. not
even be liable to pay. The oxperienee of a few
hours after the passing, of the act will ,supersede
all speculation as to the demand for Exchequer
Bonds. The money dealers in the City are, it is
believed, prepared to take them, notwithstanding
the demonstration which has been tendered that
they ought to prefer the Two-and-a-Half per Cent.
Stock, for which they may have no occasion. If
the Bonds cannot be sold, neither good nor harm
will have -been done. If the Three-and-a-Half per
Cent. Stock hangs on hand, its nominal creation
will have cost nothing. The greater part of the
South Sea Annuities can be Conveniently' paid off
in cash ; and the most zealous adversaries of the
whole project declare that the Two-and-a-Half per
Cents. will only be too good a. bargain for the fund-
holder.

No critic of the Government measure, in or out
of Parliament, has undertaken the respoifisibility
of suggesting a plausible alternative. It will
hardly be asserted that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would have done well to abstain from deal-
ing with the Debt, if he saw a probability of re-
ducing the public burdens ; nor will any man of
business pretend that it, was practicable to follow
the example of former Ministers by effecting a
compulsory reduction in a sum of five hundred mil-
lions. If, therefore, it was impossible to pay off
the debt, the next resource was to create some new
species of security. ,By raising the nominal rate
of interest, the Government might have provided
for the future reduction of the principal ; but it
must be remembered that, in a voluntary transac-
tion, the views of both parties must be consulted.
The Three per Cents. might at this moment be con-
verted into a Five per Cent, or a Ten per Cent.
Stock, if proportionate advantages were offered to
the holders ; but such an operation would only
amount to a round-about device for paying off a
portion of the debt. It would be cheaper to effect
the same object directly, if the country had not de-
termined that, for the present, it is more expedient
to apply the surplus revenue to the reduction of
taxation. If Sir Fitzroy Kelly is.right in his cal-
culation that the terms offered to purchasers in the
Three-and-a-Half per Cents. aro not sufficiently
liberal, it follows that the creation of a Stock of
that ddnomination, on a basis advantageous to the
Government, is, under existing circumstances, im-
practicable. There can be no doubt, however,
that the objection is overstated, and that even the
trifling additional interest of 2s. 9d. will attract a
certain portion of the capital which will be dis-
placed. It was quite right to try an experiment
which could do no harm if it failed, while its suc-
cess would confer a considerable advantage on the
Treasury.
The real problem evidently was, to create a se-
curity, which, bearing a nominal interest of 2i- per
cent., might serve as a pivot for further financial ,
operations. For commercial. investment a new cir-
culation is provided with a reasonable certainty
that the convenience of its form will procure it a
preference in the market. All the arguments

which were urged against this part of the measure,
as being unnecessarily liberal, were, to a great ex-
tent, founded on an oversight. The first appli-
cants among the South Sea holders will receive

the next day at
should
for the present, 21 per cent. ; but
the securities be quoted Bonds paying,
premium, the Treasurycantake
aadnvyancotnasgiab
edeorftlhee
rise by selling new Bonds at the
price, When it is asked how Exchequer
Bonds, at two-and-three-quarters per cent., can
circulate odmarkets
by the side of Exchequer Bills at a lower
rate of interest, it is forgotten that both classes of
securities will return a profit, not on their nomi-
nal amount, but on the price at which they
may have been bought. If general expectation is
realised, the bonds will shortly command a pre-
mium which will leave purchasers an interest of less
than
._2 per cent. on their outlay ; and, as it was
properly suggested in the course of the debate, the
annual convertibility of Exchequer Bills constitutes
a difference which will necessarily give class of securities a preference for
certain pu the older
rposes.
Mr. Disraeli considered that he
was ridiculing
the Ministerial scheme when he described it as a
kind of financial model farm. Yet no statesman
need be ashamed of trying an exeriment which is
at the same time an instalment of definite and ac-
tual gain. Unlike model farms in general, the
new scheme of finance will, from the first, return
a profit to the Owner ; and if, according to Mr.
Elice's well-grounded expectations, the improve-
ment eventually extends to the whole estate, Mr.
1 Gladstone will have no reason to be ashamed of
the policy which he has inaugurated. ' ‘

WOOLWICH, APRIL 9.
The. Rifleman, screw steam-ship kun-vessel, Lieute-
nant Commander Richard H. Dalton, was paid off at
this port to-day. Previous to separating, the ship's com-
pany presented a testimonial to Mr. William Henry De
Carteret, clerk in charge of the vessel since she was put.
in commission on October 18, 1848. The testimonial is
a large massive silver snuff-box, on which is engraved,
"Presented to William Henry De CUrteret, Esq., R.N.,
by the Ship's Company of the Rifleman, as a testimonial
of their gratitude for his truly gentlemanly demeanour
and exemplary character during the long and eventful
period of the ship's commission. Woolwich, April 9,
1853." The ship's company at the same time presented
to Mr. Carteret an address drawn up by one of the sea-
men, and printed on white satin ; and the following
shows how strongly they can express their sentiments
when separating from those in authority over them when
they have been kindly treated by their officers :
" Dear Sir,—The long-wished-for period arrives that we:
must separate ; and, after a period of more than four years,
we feel that we should he unworthy the name of men if we
witnessed your departure in silence. The devoted attach-
ment of the British seamen to their officers is one of the
good and remarkable traits in their character of our conn 7
trymen ; but seldom has it happened, as in your case, that
this attachment has been secured by such a rare combina-
tion of qualities, eminently calculated to win the esteem
and affection of all on board. We are not more at a loss
to find language to express our gratitude for your truly
gentlemanly demeanour than to speak adequately of the
zeal, ability, and efficiency with which you discharged the
onerous duties intrusted to you whilst amongst us. In our
bidding you farewell we feel we have parted with the leni-
ent officer, the courteous gentleman, and the sincere friend.
I Though convinced that no lasting testimonial is required to
keep alive and foster that cordial affection which haa for
so long a period existed between you and us, yet you will
confer on us a favour, never to be forgotten, by accepting
the accompanying gift, as a slight and very inadequate token
of our esteem. Dear sir, in bidding yon an apctionate
farewell, we sincerely hope that the same zeal, prudence,
and manlybearing which characterised your conduct in the
Rifleman during the long and eventful period of our com-
mission, may continue to mark your career until your
earthly labours are crowned with glorious immortality."