The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-07 00:00:00

w. 4 2int4

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 7,1 1847.

" Wair ra d POUND ?" Assuredly the riddle o f
Sphinx was not more bewildering or inexplicable
than this simple inquiry, if we may estimate its di
ficulty by the diversity and contradiction of the an-
the
awers even by modern financiers. A pound ! why,
colour of the chamelion has not been provocative
of more opposite assertions. For all that could be
adduced from the perverse definitions of this in corn-.
-prehensible thing—a pound—by those who are pre •
slimed to be deeply versed in the monetary science•
-we might as well endeavour to penetrate the Elus
mean mysteries, to solve the variations in the rnagn
to concoct the elixir vita., or to prove that manki, t,
, yil
bas not in all ages been most credulous and most e.
travagant.

Until we have arrived at some definite understand
ng, however, as to the signification of a pound it is
topeless to cxpect anything like sound or even safe le-
gislation in regard to national finance. Sir R. PEx r.
Izas assumed to himself a species of despotism .
iti
regard to the Currency :it is natural, therefore, that
to him public curiosity should be first directed for•
srme explicit interpn-tation of this awfully mystifi-
Ecus monosyllable. Sir ROBERT PEEL has given hi s
interpretation—three years ago he gave it—repeat ed/ y
since then he has given it; but such an interpretat lot 1!
such an ingenious jumble of paradoxes, such an
eecentric puzzle of words, as left the original tun s-
lion as invisible as a needle in a bottle of hay.
Arguing from the premise that a pound (a nonna z/
sound) of gold is 123.1-274 grains of gold, r
ROBERT PEEL maintained that the meaning of a
pound is literally " a definite quantity of gold with:. a

mark upon it to determine its weight and fineness."
Remember, he asserted this upon the premise that a
pound is fixed at 123.1-274 grains of gold; and he
asserted, almost in a simultaneous breath, that an
ounce of gold being legally determined to be of the
value of 3/. 17s. 100., an ounce of gold and a pound
of silver must be considered as equivalent, or, in
other words, that the signification of an ounce of gold,
being estimated by law at the sum of 3/. 17s. 10id.,
is simply the expression of the value of gold relatively
with silver. While uttering these opinions Sir Ro-
BERT coolly knocks the ground from under himself,
cracks the reed upon which he is leaning, by con-
fessing that silver can no longer be regarded as a
standard of value—that, in short, the silver coinage
is at present " a mere token," seeing that the
value of silver has fluctuated within recollection
from 625. to 665. per pound ! Was ever magnificent
castle in the air so instantaneously demolished, and
that, moreover, by its very fabricator ? Why, if
silver coinage is a mere token, gold coinage must
equally be a mere token ! If silver generally varies
in value, a pound of silver must vary in value,
and consequently a fluctuating pound of silver
cannot by possibility be the equivalent of an unfluc-
tuating ounce of gold! The meaning of an ounce of
gold at 31. 17s. 100. Sir R. PEEL defines, as we
have already stated, to be merely the expression of
its relative value to silver. If; therefore, the value of
silver is variable, the value of gold, as it is rated
proportionately with silver, must necessarily be
mutable in like manner. Already has Sir ROBERT
considered a pound as being composed of 123.1-27-1
grains of standard gold, and he has declared that
quantity to have been decided upon from the circum-
stance of the pound of account having been formerly,
namely, in the reign of WILLIAM the Cox-
, QUEROR, literally a pound (weight) of silver.
Yet this lesser metal, by which the more precious
metal is estimated, cannot, he acknowledges, be
viewed as anything more than a mere token, because
its value fluctuates like that of any baser commodity.
From first to last, throughout Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
explanation, there is an utter chaos of contradictions,
and paradoxes, and prevarications. From first to
last it is manifest that his arguments are based upon
premises of inherent rottenness. From first to last
it is certain that a pound is not, as he maintains, an
actual thing—an existent fact—a visible and repre-
sentable substance, but that it is, on the contrary, a
fiction—an ideal and suppositious medium—a phrase
used conventionally and symbolically.
From the root, therefore, from the very founda-
tions, the present system of the Currency, as modelled
and constructed by Sir ROBERT PEEL, is un-
sound and untenable. From the root, from
the very foundations, it must be remodelled
and reconstructed. Inour columns of Saturday ap-
peared a communication from a provincial banker
pointing out the urgent necessity for some combined
effort to insure a gigantic alteration in the national
Currency, and especially directing attention to the
opportunity afforded for that effort by the approach-
ing general election. The suggestion is admirably
timed and is eminently entitled to consideration.
Meanwhile the electors throughout the kingdom
should weigh the matter seriously in the balance.
They should probe the wounds caused in our Credit
by the Bank Charter Bill of 1844, the causes of which
are conclusively set forth in a brief but emphatic
pamphlet by Mr. CHARLES ENDERBY. At the county
and borough hustings let not the late financial in-
volvements be forgotten.

The question of emigration was on Friday brought
before the House of Lords by Lord iNIONTEAGLE, who
moved for a Select Committee to consider the means
by which emigration might be made a benefit to the
social condition of Ireland. In the reasons adduced
by the Noble Secretary for the Colonies for assenting
to the inquiry, in his masterly and convincing reply,
we most cordially concur. He has acted on a prin-
ciple which has not hitherto been sufficiently recog-
nised. Heretofore it was too much the custom to
consider that entering into an investigation was an
admission of the accuracy and justice of the charges
or the principles asserted by the mover—that it
implied a general acquiescence in his views; Lord
GREY, however, adopted a more judicious course.
He consented to the appointment of the pro-
posed Committee, because he believed that
the result would be to disabuse men's minis
of a dangerous error, viz., that emigration could
be made useful to the greatest imaginable extent.
Many erroneous and unfounded opinions on the sub-
ject are, unhappily, too prevalent. Certain classes in
Ireland have been impressed with the most extrava-
gant ideas on the point. They have looked upon

i a large and extensive system of emigration as the
only remedy for the ills of Ireland. They have de-
liberately stated that there can be no prosperity for
Ireland until one-fourth of her population are trans-
ferred to other shores—until two millions of people
are banished from their native land ; that, for the
supposed benefit of Irish landlords, their estates are
to be cleared, their country depopulated at an expense
to the national Exchequer, or, in other words, to the
English taxpayer, of some forty or fifty mil-
lion pounds sterling. Such was the scheme originally
brought forward and supported by many Members
of either House of Parliament, and other influential
gentleman connected with Ireland. But when, at
length, the question is brought before the Senate•
there is not a single voice uplifted in its defence, or
prepared to advocate it to the extent that had previ-
ously been urged. In fact, as the Noble Lord had
stated, it was utterly and entirely repudiated.

It will not be the least valuable of the results of
the proposed inquiry that it will at length be dis-
covered what is the point really aimed at by the sup-
porters and advocates of emigration, to what extent
they really desire to go. It will pin them down to
some certain propositions, the fallacy of which can
readily be exposed. Hitherto they have assumed
that the population of our sister island is too numer-
ous for its resources, that an adequate supply of food
cannot be raised in the country for the maintenance
of its inhabitants, and that, consequently, nothing
can be efficacious but the removal of the surplus
numbers. They have not to inquire how or by what
means, and at what expenditure, this their darling
object can be obtained. They ask not with what
justice we can divest ourselves of the duty of pro-
viding for our own impotent poor, and send them to
s tarve and die in other climes, quod volumus facile I
c. redimus. They desire to get rid of their destitute
•ethren, and they are prepared to believe it can
ea lily be accomplished.
Tile first question that will have to be submitted
to the Committee will be, whether Ireland is really
over-peopled—whether useful and beneficial em-
ployment may not be found for every able-bodied
labourer throughout the land. 'We are fully con-
vinced that it will be manifested that there is an
ample field for the occupation of all, and that their
labours, when directed into the proper
channels, will be in the highest degree
valuable to the kingdom in general. We
do not want a tide of emigration flowing from the
Irish shores, but an influx of capital to carry out the
desired ameliorations. Already within the last
twenty years nearly 1,500,000 persons have volun-
tarily sailed from Ireland, and there has recently been
a large increase, so that from 200,000 to 300,000 may
fairly be estimated as the number of departures for the
present year, and what advantage has been derived
therefrom? Even Lord MoNTEIGLE has been forced to
admit " that he feared it was of a kind that, so far
from relieving, would greatly increase the evils of which
just complaints were now universally made ; that he
found that the greater part of the emigration that
had taken place was from the employers rather than
from the employed, and that it had produced no effect
.either in a greater demand for labour or in an
is, creased desire to possess land." It is, then, because
‘fvaelseare convinced that this inquiry will remove the
abroadtxnthdaterrweonheoauils
with imp
jroeyssitohnes
aptpohaitramha:h-et
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hnee
Committee.

rSiaturdaTto the case of
f We drew attention 0
sootned under the Small
". Nom A S KINKING,
by v i
rirunep
lapnonorder
an made by
upon
ap-
-1 D ebts Act,
Mr.. Commissioner BULLOCK,
plication of the plaintiff', based the alle-
gation, that the defendant had failed
to pay the
directed
first of a series of instalments, as previously
by the Court. IVe alluded to the application which
the prisoner had subsequently made, without success,
to the Court of Queen's Bench to be discharged
from custody, under the above circumstances, and by

virtue of which, it was contended, that the imprison-
ment was illegal ; we observed upon the fact, that
the judges hereupon were equally divided in their
opinion, and urged that the practice was reprehensible
which caused the prisoner to be remanded back to
prison under this state of things ; and, finally, we
alleged that, in point of law, Lord DENMAN and Mr.
Justice ERLE were in error in differing from
the view taken of this matter by their Learned Col-
leagues, Mr. Justice PATTESON and Mr. Justice
COLERIDGE. We also rejoiced: that the ques-
tion was to be mooted anew in the Court ci,
Common Pleas. The Judges of the latter court have
since unanimously decided that the commitment was
illegal, and the prisoner was accordingly forthwith
discharged. Lord DENMAN'S great error lay here—
he considered the proceeding of the Commissioner to
have !Hen ministerial instead of judicial, whereas it
was clearly the latter. The object of the Act is to
punish a party, by a term of imprisonment not
exceeding forty days, who was or is able to pay in a
manner specified and arranged by the court having
jurisdiction in debts under 201. The imprisonment
does not liquidate the debt, and is therefore a pro-
ceeding in pcenam. As observed by Chief Justice
" the Act was passed in accordance with the
general principles of humanity, that you should not
press a man when he is not of ability to pay." A
man may have paid nineteen out of twenty instal-
ments, and it would be hard if, because he had
not satisfied the last, he was to be de-
prived of his liberty without being heard in
his defence. A thousand adverse circumstances
might have intervened to thwart his intention of
paying the entire debt, and yet, if the judge of the
Sheriffs' Court had been supported in his order, it is
manifest that the object of the Legislature would
have been defeated. The fact is, the Act is very
loosely drawn, and is wholly silent as to whether there
should be a fresh summons issued when an instalment
has not been paid up. Being defective in this re-
spect, every one would have supposed that the general
principles of law should prevail, and that a person
should not be condemned unheard. But Lord DEN*
MAN'S wisdom flew off at a tangent, and, setting this
reasonable inference aside, held a new summons un-
necessary, fearful that, if it were, debtors
might abscond. Whether this be likely to
be the effect of the decision of the
Common Pleas or not is beside the point; but it is
curious reasoning for the Chief Justice of the Queen's
Bmich, in order to supply an omission in a statute,
to supply it by confirming a power assumed in an
inferior court, adverse to the liberty of the subject.
If we are to have stringent powers, let them be un-
equivocally conferred by law ; we seek not to be
indebted for them to the constrained fancies of any
judge. We agree, however, with Mr. Justicd COLT-
MAN, that defendants, on receiving notice, would not
get out of the way, as the sums sued for are
generally of so small an amount; it was not like the
Act for abolishing arrest on mesne process, under
which the debts might constitute an inducement to
parties to abscond.

Letters from Rome, dated the 27th ult., state that
the Rev. Dr. MILEY and Mr. DANIEL O'CONNELL
had arrived there, bearing with them the heart of the
late Mr. O'CONNELL, enclosed in a silver urn.
"No words can describe," say those letters, " the
grief and disappointment that was experienced at the
announcement of O'Connell's death. A triumphal entry
was prepared for him. The compartments of the arch
under which he was to pass were re,:dy, and every other
arrangement made to receive him, rather as a prince
than as a pilgrim. The stroke which crushed all our
hearts has deranged all this, and the gl,)wing enthu-
siasm which busied itself about his triumphal entry
sorrowfully but earnestly engaged in preparing for
the grand requiem which is to be celebrated for his
eternal repose on the 15th June in one of the chief Ba-
silicas of Rome. Padre Ventura, the brightest ornament
of the pulpit in Italy, is preparing the funeral oration.
An audience is to be granted to the Rev. Dr. Mile)
and Mr. Daniel O'Connell immediately on the return of
Pius IX. from Suliaco, for which place his Holiness
started this morning at three o'clock, Half Rome has
followed him. The Pope's own suite and guard wee.•
small, but their deficiency was more than compensated
for by the sixty or eighty young Roman nobles and
gentlemen, who turned out splendidly mounted and
appointed as a volunteer body-guard for their Sove-
reign, who reigns supreme in every heart. His Holi•
ness is not expected to return before Tuesday next. In
the interim the heart of O'Connell is deposited in the
ancient church of St. Agatha, which is served by the
Irish college, where, on Monday neat, a solemn re-
quiem is to be celebrated for the departed. whose death
has plunged the venerable prelate, the Very Rev. Dr.
Cullen, who presides over the college, and his commu-
nity into the bitterest grief."

The Pors has appointed five new Cardinals, two
French (the Archbishops of Cambrai and Besancon),
and three Italian—M. ANTONELLI, Treasurer; M.
BUFONDI, Prolegate at Ravenna ; and M. FORNARI,
the Pontifical Nuncio in Paris."

A Berlin letter states that on the 28th ult. the
whol of the Court, the Foreign Ministers, and seve
ral members of the two Orders of the States of
Prussia, had the honour of dining with the KING at
Potsdam, in honour of the birthday of the Queen of
ENGLAND. This is the first time that this mark of
respect towards her Britannic MAJESTY has been
shown in Prussia.

A letter from Munich, of May 27, says—" The
news lately given by the journals, that the KING in-
tended to separate the administrative power from the
judicial, turns out to be exact. Yesterday, the anni-
versary of the granting of the Bavarian constitution,
his MAJESTY, after a Cabinet Council of three hours'
duration, gave orders to have this great and salutary
measure carried into effect. At the same time the
KING issued an ordonnance, enacting that the pro-
ceedings in all the courts of law, civil and criminal,
should be public."

We quote the following from the Spener Gazette:—
"It is said that the Emperor Nicholas is about to do
an act of generosity tovvard, such Poles as have been
condemned tor political offences. Those who have bt en
exiled to Siberia, and whose estates have been confis-
cated, are to be allowed to r eturn into the kingdom, and
re-enter into possession of their property."

The intelligence from Lisbon, brought by the
Tiger, the arrival of which at Southampton we an-

nounced yesterday, is to the 29th ult. The Bulldog
arrived from England on the 27th, and was supposed
to bring important dispatches ; among them is said to

be an autograph letter from Queen VICTORIA to

Queen DONNA MARIA, promising to re-establish her
in authority. We hope and believe that such is not
the case. The affair of Eu is surely a sufficient ex-
ample of the complications which must arise from
any attempt to settle state affairs by personal and non-
official communications between constitutional Sove-
reigns.

Colonel WYLDE and the Marquis D'ESPANA had
a long interview with the QUEEN on Thursday night,
after the arrival of the Bulldog.
A letter from Oporto, under date the 22d, contains
the following:—
" The Polyphemus and a Spanish steamer arrived off
our bar at two P.M., yesterday, bringing dispatches for
our Consul and Captain Robb, of the Gladiator. The
former, in consequence of the nature of these dispatches,
requested the heads of all British houses here to
wait upon him this day, between the hours of twelve
and two, to receive a verbal communication, which was
in substance as follows That he had received orders
from Lisbon to request of the Junta and of the Conde
Das Antas, as commander-in-chief of its army, to agree
to a general suspension of the hostilities now carrying
on between them and the Queen, both by sea and land;
that in the event of its not being acceded to, the Gladia-
tor would very likely leave the river ; and, therefore,
he had to intimate to all those who, under the circum-
stances, might wish to embark for safety, that every
facility would be given them to do so, and that ample
accommodation would be provided for them on board
the squadron outside the bar, to consist of the Sidon,
Gladiator, and Polyphemus steamers, with the American
frigate. That this was merely a precautionary measure
against any ebullition of angry feeling that might take
place, either on the part of the Junta or the people, in
consequence of our mediation, as even if the Junta re-
fused to accede to a suspension of hostilities, it was not
yet decided what measures would in consequence be
adopted. The suspension to be binding on both parties
until answers were received to the dispatches forwarded
to the British Government by the Jackal.' I believe
froth the Consul and Captain Robb have gone to see the
Conde Das Antas at Regoa.”
It is .stated that .an the 24th the Mindello and
Royal 'Thr.steamers went out of Oporto and attacked
the Portuguese frigate Dona Maris Secunda, lying
off the bar, which hoisted a Spanish flag, and made
off. The steamers afterwards pursued their way
west.

SA DA BANDEIRA, writing from St. Übes, under
date the 26th ult., says—
" Yesterday I received two dispatches, dated the 22d
iustant, one from Sir Hamilton Seymour, and the other
from M. Ay-Lon, in which they informed me that the
vessels of war of the two powers which they represented
had orders oot to allow the steamers which acknow-
lodged the autkiority of the Junta to go out of port It