The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, aATURDAY. JULY 21, 1849.

We cordially participate in the feeling which Lord
JOHN RUSSELL ascribed to the supp:)rters of Mr.
HENLEY's motion fur a general reduction of ten per
cent. in all salaries of the Government departments at
home and abroad. "It was not exactly the motion
he should have desired, but upon the whole it was
for a reduction, and as it proposed economy for its
object, it was desirable that the motion should be
supported." In fact, it would be a step in the right
direction, which if judiciously and pnperly followed
up, would speedily direct the attention of public
men, of the great officers of State, to the monster
grievance under which the country has suffered for
the last thirty years, a grievance the intensity of
which has been enormously aggravated within the
last five years. Jt would be, we say, a " step in the
right direction," but one fulling far short of the dis-
tance to be surmoutite3, one-twentieth part of
which it would not reach. Still it would be a begin-
ning, and,

" Dimidium facti, que ccepet habet,"

its success would encourage the Financial Reformers,
and perhaps ultimately lead to the attainment of
complete and decisive victory.
The Honourable Gentleman grounded his motion
on the unquestionable fact, that there had been of
late years an enormous reduction in the prices of all
the necessaries of life ; that the cost of every
article was considerably less than that for
which it could have been obtained some
time ago. This extraordinary alteration he
chose (erroneously) to ascribe to the recent
commercial legislation of the country ; in other words,
to the removal of protective imposts and the estab-
lishment of free trade principles. Now, in this he
was altogether mistaken. it is not because commo-
dities have b,-come generally cheaper, but because
there has been a great "appreciation" in the value of
money, the effect of which has been to reduce the
relative values of all articles the prices of which were
fluctuating. This appreciation has been produced,
not by the measure of 1846, or those founded on the
same principle which had been carried during the
four preceding years, but on the monetary code es•
tablished by the Acts of 1819 and 1844, the neces-
sary result of which has been to diminish the circula-
tion of the country by so.ne 40 or 50 per cent., and
consequently to increase the pressure of taxation and
of all fixed payments in an inverse ratio. As an ab-
stract principle, if there were no fixed charges it
would be a matter of little importance vi bother the
circulating medium in the country amounted to
20,000,0001. or to 100,000,000/. sterling. In the
former case four shillings would obtain as many of the
comforts or luxuries of existence as 11. would in the
latter. All would depend on the purchasing power of
the nominal "pound." But, unfortunately, there is an
enormous national debt, the interest of which must
be liquidated under any circumstances, and the effect
of any rising, or rapid appreciation of the value of
money, is to increase the burden of that debt in a si-
milar proportion. If; as Mr. HENLEY truly asserted,
there has been a general reduction of prices to the
'extent of 25 per cent., it is manifest that the fund-
holders and great landowners, whose rents are fixed
under old leases, would receive full justice, and
could not complain if 75 per cent. were paid
on the amounts to which they had been
entitled in more prosperous times, under a different
monetary system—the system which was in force
when those very contracts were entered into. It
true that they would receive fewer
pieces of the coin
called other called a pound sterling, but " the rose by an
name would smell as sweet," and if they
are
what would procure for them comforts equal to ad
thosep
l
they could formerly have enjoyed, every principle
of equity and justice would be completely satisfied
The lion. Member for Oxfordshire would reduce all
public salaries by ten per cent., but this would not
meet the real difficulties or the justice of the case,
unleis the public debt and the expenses of all the na-
tional establishments were proportionably reduced.
The salaries affec!el by his motion, if carried out to
the utmost extent, would not amount to one.
thirteenth of the national income, and, consequently,
would only afford a remedy for• one-thirteenth
part of the existing evil. The parties cer-