The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-30 00:00:00

Pritit,

LONDON, SATURDAY. OCTOBER 30, 1847.

Incidentally we have already hai occasion to men-
tion the indefatigable labours and brilliant but blood-
less achievements of his Excellency JAMES BROOKE,
Raja of Sarawak, Governor of Labuan, and official
representative of her Britannic MAJESTY in the island
of Borneo. The presentation of the freedom of the
city of London, enclosed in a gold box, accompanied
by the acclamations of the Court of Common Council,
and the deserved panegyric of the civic Chamberlain,
affords a favourable opportunity for reverting to the
distinguished career of this illustrious Englishman.
Nine years have elapsed since a private gentleman
embarked from the shores of this country in a yacht
called the Royalist—a schooner of inconsiderable bur-
den, manned by a mere handful of mariners—on a
scientific expedition to the Asiatic Archipelago. At
the first his project was simply the advancement of
human knowledge by gratuitous researches into the
geographical position, the botanical productions,
the zoological occupants, or the mineral re-
sources of those rich but in a great mea-
sure unexplored dominions. Like Sir JOSEPH
Bk.:gas, he had a disposition which thirsted for the
development of natural philosophy through the in-
strumentality of the science of navigation. And
with this intellectual aspiration was doubtless com-
bined a vague
,intention to emulate the commercial
enterprize, if not the diplomatic sagacity, evinced by
Sir STAMFORD Rxese.us. Such was the indefinite
scheme which conducted a gentleman of good for-
tune and healthful intelligence to the fertile plains of
Borneo. The schooner sailed ; it reached the coast
of that superb island; Mr. BROOKE, with scarcely a
dozen companions, disembarked, and the vision, evoked
by a generous but indecisive ambition, resolved itself
into a magnificent reality. Instead of striving to
acquire the celebrity of an ichthyologist, Mr. BROOKE
resolved, with Gon's blessing to elevate himself to
the dignity of an Apostle of Civilization. His
aim was no longer that of corresponding with
the Royal Society, but that of correspond-
ing with the holiest principles of humanity
and the primal dogmas of religion. Nine years
have
elapsed since this noble project was first con-
ceived and this sublime resolution first formed, and
within that period the advantages of good govern-
ment and the Diviae revelations
of Christianity have
been explained to a race until then scarcely emerged
from barbarity.
Unassisted, and almost unnoticed, this spontaneous
regenerator of his fellow-creatures has been enabled
to infuse into the rudeness of the
and Asiatic islanderswhich h
a
portion of that intelligence
morality
,d as.
conduced So much to the happiness of Europeans
Unassisted, and almost unnoticed, he was enabled
conquer the opposition of a benighted people, and toto
overcome those numerous and formidable obstructions
which invariably impede the progress of a liberator.
Without the dove of MOHAMMED, the nymph
of NUMA, or the attendant demon O. ..,f SOCRATES, he
was enabled to commence the diffusion among an
ignorant multitude of the truths of religion, law,
and philosophy. For the natural instincts of morality
are the basis of the Christian Evangel; the natural
axioms of equity are the seeds of legislation ; and the
simplest of the doctrines of utility and right con-
stitute the germ or the foundation of philosophic
wisdom. These humanizing instincts, axioms, and
doctrines have found in Mr. BROOKE an earnest
interpreter for the Bornese. In the course of a few
summers be has planted the standard of Christianity
and civilization in the Asiatic Archipelago; and he
has so planted it, that it can only be uprooted by
some unforeseen and preternatural catastrophe. Not
only have these benefits been assured by the ardour
of this most disinterested philanthropist, but an in-
kulable advantage baa been conferred upon Cora-

merce generally, and especially on the vast commer-
cial enterprises of the modern Carthaginians. To
" the Merchants of old England, the Seigneurs
of the Seas," Mr. BROOKE must for ever
appear as not the least distinguished of their
benefactors. Hence it was doubly appropriate that
the freedom of the British capital should be conferred
upon the civilizer of Borneo, and the descendant of a
Lord Mayor of London, by the municipal council of
the most wonderful commercial metropolis in the
world.

Invested with the applause of his fellow-country-
men, robed, as it were, with the gratitude of
England—to which his name has become
a new honour—and crowned with the ap-
proval of his SOVEREIGN and the Government,
Mr. BaooKE will return to the scene of his memor-
able adventures with additional capacity to serve in
the cause of humanity. As Raja of SARAWAK he
has acquired the affections of the population of a con-
siderable portion of the people of Borneo; as Governor
of Labuan he maintains a line of facile communica-
tion between Singapore and Hong-Kong, and is
thereby qualified to protect our trade in the Asiatic
continent and archipelago ; and as the representative of
her Most Gracious MAJESTY he is now enabled to com-
mand the respect and obedience of the race upon whom
he has already conferred such benefactions. We think,
nevertheless, that his Excellency should not return to
Borneo without some other visible token of national
gratitude. The baronetcy could not honour him;
but he could honour the baronetcy. And never have
the golden spurs of knighthood been won more glo-
riously, whether in the tournay or on the battle-field,
than by 'Limits BROOKE, Raja of Sarawak.

Within a few short weeks the decision of the Go-
vernment with respect to 'the monetary laws will be
made known. At this moment the several members
of the Cabinet are devoting their most anxious and
attentive consideration to the nature and extent of
the alterations that are to be brought forward. Much
will depend on the people themselves, and the energy
that may be displayed in the short interval that re-
mains before the assembling together of the Parliament.
As we have already repeatedly pointed out, it is a ques-
tion of the most vital importance to every person in
any degree dependent on his daily labour for his
daily support. There are, we believe, few English-
men who, whatever might be their own position,
would disregard the sufferings of their less
favourably circumstanced brethren, even though
their own personal interests were involved,
and they might possibly obtain luxuries at a
cheaper rate, on account of that general distress
and destitution, or be enabled to stretch a
fixed income to a greater extent. We are, therefore,
satisfied that when once the public mind is fully en-
lightened on the subject, when once the people gene-
rally are convinced that the national prosperity and
the welfare of the productive classes must in a great
degree depend upon the adoption of a wiser system,
and the circulation of a currency sufficient for the
wants of the country, that no selfish con-
siderations will induce them to oppose the
necessary monetary reforms, or to array them-
selves, in support of their own individual interests,

against the general good of the community.

But such persons cannot be expected to exhibit the
same activity, to exert themselves with such devotion
to the cause, as those to whom it is almost a question
of life and death, on the result of which it will de-
pend whether they are to enjoy the comforts to which
they have been accustomed, and which are suited to
their station in society, or to want the commonest
necessaries of life ; whether they are to be in posses-
sion of a competence acquired by their own honest
industry, or to be reduced to a state of poverty and
destitution; whether there shall be an opening for
every intelligent and well-disposed man to advance his
position and aspire to place himself end his family
in a superior station, or that he should be wholly
debarred from any such prospect, and if not com-
pelled to retrograde, at least kept stationary, and
prevented from making any progress. We are eon-
vinced that there is scarcely an individual in this
mighty nation whose real interests would be injured
by a change such as we have suggested when advo-
cating the issue of a national note, that would answer
every possible purpose within the country, and for
which gold might readily be purchased by those who
required it for exportation, while millions would be
materially benefited, and their conditions greatly
ameliorated thereby.
We call, then, upon all in any manner interested
in trade, commerce, or manufactures to come for-
ward and lend their aid ; we call upon the arti-
zans, the operatives, and the labourers to speak
out upon this momentous question. Every demon-
stration made within the ensuing week will be of
tenfold greater value than a similar effort at a later

period. At present all that is known is, that the Ac

of 1844 is condemned—that it must be erased from
the statute-book. But the contest will tike place
on the real cause of all the mischief—the Act of
1819—to which the suspended statute has been well
described as a complement and a corollary, in

fact, it is nothing but a more strict adherence to the

former law. Any attempt to bolster up that fatal prin-
ciple, to maintain the fixed price of gold, must
prove abortive, and lead to new evils, to repeated
returns of destitution and distress, in which addi-

tional sufferings will be endured, until the people,
made wise by the afflictions they have sustained, will
at length be aware of their mighty power, and in
their irresistible strength will overturn the entire
system that has occasioned such fearful calamities.

There should be no stinted or limited measure of
reform ; to prove effectual it should go to the very
root of the evil. There must be a free trade in gold
as well as in any other commodity. The money
of the country should be something that can
be obtained in our own dominions, of our own
production. As Mr. DUNCAN, at the meeting
of the Anti-Gold-law League, most truly
said, " Money should not possess an intrinsic
value. We consider that a sign is not the
thing signified. Money is the symbol, token, or
representative of the produce of labour. We recog-
ni.ie labour as the source of all wealth." This is the
only just principle—the gold itself is only the repre-
sentative of the labour that is employed to obtain it ;
and whenever, either from the discovery of new mines,
or any other cause whatsoever, gold can be procured
by the expenditure of less labour, its price or value
must be proportionately deteriorated, no matter what
efforts may be made to render it invariable. But why
should so expensive a representative be made use of, and
more particularly why should that be selected which
is not the result of the labour of our own people ? It
is an enormous waste of our national resources to
have 50,000,000/. sterling passing from hand to hand
when every purpose could be as fully answered by
the: adoption of that which would not cost fifty
hundreds. As Mr. DuNcAN stated, "an instrument
perfectly valueless is quite competent to discharge
taxation and distribute industrial produce amongst
ourselves ;" and that is what we require, guarded
with the utmost care against any abuse, and placed
under the control of a board responsible to Par-
liament and to the country for its judicious and
prudent management. But there is a reason, if pos-
sible, more urgent than any we have hitherto used,
and which renders the alteration still more essential.
The national honour may be placed at the dis-
posal of a foreign potentate if the present system is
persevered in. It is scarcely necessary for us to
remind our readers, that the Russian AUTOCRAT in
the course of the present spring caused no
less than 30,000,000 of silver roubles, equivalent to
I 4,600,000/. sterling, to be invested in the purchase of
securities, chiefly English stock ; this was in addition
to the sum of 2,000,000/. sterling just before ad-
vanced to the Bank of France in the purchase of
tv,h,ee
find no inscriptionles of French Ilentes. Here, then,
s than 6,600,000/. which' the
EMPEROR may at any timbullion e sell
hisown out, and
withdraw the amount in.
minions. We have already the fearful
effects of a drain of six or sevenwitnessed
millionsi of gold,
although it took place gradually,
for food provided for the people; and
winmetxchange
m
be the consequence of a sudden
takotitold
away of more than four millions and a half
in gold, without any equivalent whatever ?
If it occurred during the existence of the present
system, it would at once lead to a general convul-
sion, and paralyse our entire trade and commerce,
and all the productive powers of the nation. How
could we, in the face of such A contingency, dare to