The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-26 00:00:00

gency as:the ' /,- , -
-question. They acquiesce " all that basze,ver ap-
peared in this journal on t subject. " ' Majesty's
)6,0
Government," say Lord ohn Russell Sir Charles
Olrood, by whom the letter to the ank directors
'is signed,—" her Majesty's Government have
seen with the deepest regret the pressure which has
existed for some weeks upon the commercial in-
terests of the country, and that this pressure has
to
been aggravated by a want of that confidence which
otravden They
e.
transactionsha v e boefe na
si np e
ohoolpaet
is
is necessary for carrying on the ordinary dealings of
transfer of capital from other countries,
bullion, and the feeling which k the influx of
v e that
character,
a ra theot e
r check
ec k
the
a now of these
circumstances might have been
expected to produce,
would have removed the prevailing distrust. They
were encouraged in this expectation b
by the speedy
cessation of a similar state of feeling in the month of
April last. These hopes, however, have been disap-
pointed, and her Majesty's Government have come to
the conclusion that the time has •
arrived when they
ought to attempt, by some extraordinary and
tempo-
rary measure, to restore confidence to the
mercantile
and manufacturing community." The measure which
Ministers have adopted for relieving the existing
pressure is at least sufficiently simple. There is
nothing complicated about it. It is easy of compre-
hension. The Bank is to be allowed to make ad-
vances, irrespective of the amount of gold in its
coffers, on the public securities, on Exchequer-bills,
and on bills of exchange, not having more than
ninety-five days to run. The period for which
the advances are to be made is to be left to the
discretion of the Bank directors—only the rate
of interest is not to be less than eight per cent.
Eight per cent. is so high a rate of interest, that
it will, in a great measure, neutralise the benefit of
which the measure would otherwise have been pro-
ductive. It is more than business generally can
afford to pay out of the profits. It will, nevertheless,
be welcomed by many a struggling house of the
highest respectability. They will be content to pay
more than a fair rate of interest for temporary ac-
commodation, in the hope of the speedy advent of
a better state of things. The great peculiarity of
the crisis has been, that houses of undoubted sol-
vency could not obtain the needed accommodation
on any terms. The Bank was not in a condition
to afford them the required aid, however unexcep-
tionable the securities, and however high the rate
of interest they tendered for the accommodation.
The necessary result has been that houses of un-
questioned solvency have fallen, one after the other,
in rapid succession ; and had Ministers not inter-
posed, it is more than probable that, before Christ-
mas, we should hardly have had a house of any
note which would not have been either hopelessly
paralysed or entirely prostrate in the dust. The
Ministerial measure will not fully meet the exigen-
cies of the case. Had the rate of interest been fixed
at six per cent., it would have been productive of
great and immediate benefit. It would have had
the effect of restoring confidence, and by that means
bringing out from their dark recesses enormous quan-
tities of money, which have been hoarding for the
last four months, and which, we verily believe, must,
by.this time, have accumulated to the extent of nearly
10,000,0001. The measure will have this effect in a
modified degree, but it will fall far short of what a
really liberal scheme of relief would have accom-
plished. It is to be regretted, for the sake of Mi-
nisters themselves, as well as for the sake of the
country, that when they had made up their minds to
do something for the relief of the monetary pressure,
they did not resolve on bringing forward an effective
measure. It has always been the misfortune of the
Whigs, when in office, to prove themselves bad
financiers. Here is another instance. It is a half-
and-half measure. It does not go to the root
of the evil—it only deals with the indications of
the disease which are visible on the surface. But,
as we said before, it is something to have ob-
tained so distinct a recognition of the principle,
that it is the right and duty of the Government to
afford relief to the mercantile interest in times of
such severe pressure as those through which the
country is now passing. In the mere fact of their
interposition, we have a confirmation of all we have
ever said on this subject. We have all through
maintained, that however resolutely Ministers might
withstand for a time, the appeals made to them for
monetary relief, they would not be able long to resist
those appeals. We saw and said from the first, that
they must succumb—that they must yield to an inex-
orable necessity. We mentioned that Ministers were
made of " squeezable " stuff, and that all that was
wanting was a little further application of the mer-
cantile screw. Our predictions have been verified to
the letter. We have have said that though the mea-
sure will not work the wonders which some had hoped
to witness, yet that it will have a decidedly beneficial
effect. It will work all the more advantageously,
in consequence of a concurrence of favourable
circumstances. The exchanges are in our favour,
and are likely to continue so for some time.
Gold is beginning to pour in, not only from the con-
tinent, but from America. The importations of corn
from abroad are well nigh at an end for at least six
months, while large orders are on hand for British
manufactures to be sent abroad. This must soon
have the effect of bringing about the desirable con-
summation—a balance of trade in our favour. No
speculation of any kind is going on just now; stocks
of British manufactured goods are exceedingly low.
Business is everywhere conducted on the last
cautious principle. Every mercantile man has of
late been contracting his liabilities, and the Franken-
stein of railway calls has all but vanished from the
scene ; or, if still visible, he is not the monster he
was. The commerce of the country will no longer
look on railway calls in the
terrible
light in which it
has hitherto regarded them. Distrust and depression
are already on the wane. It is to be hoped they will
soon disappear altogether, and that, after the dark
and dreary night through which we have passed, a
brighter and better day will dawn upon England.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.
CITY, MONDAY EVENING.
TIMES.—The suspension of the Bank Charter Bill,
announced to-day, has produced;a complete monetary
revolution. Consols for money, which closed on
Saturday at 80, opened this morning at 811 to i.
From this they declined to 80 ; but a notification
was then made by the Bank broker, that in confor-
mity with a correspondence held between the Bank
and the Government, advances would be made upon
stock, Exchequer bills, and bills of exchange, at the
rate of 8 per cent., such advances to be for periods
of not less than a fortnight or more than three
weeks (according to present arrangements), and in
sums of not less than 2,0001. Upon this Consols
jumped up to 814. A reaction afterwards took place
to 811; but they recovered again, and closed at 811
to 82. After business hours a most extraordinary
further movement took place, and they went to 82f
to 81. For the:Account they began at 82i; declined
to 88*, went up to 83, and closed at 82i to f. Sub-
sequent transactions occurred at 83i.
That the Bank Charter Bill should have been vir-
tually extinguished at the moment of its first severe
trial can hardly be said to have been an unexpected
event. That the step should have been announced
this morning, however, is very generally a matter of
astonishment Had it been occasioned by a combined
movement of its enemies during the pressure in the
middle of last week, or had its doom been fore' old
for the very first night of the next session of Parlia-
ment, no one would have felt surprise. Those who
most admired its principle saw too plainly the effects
of its immutable action to look on with anything but
apprehension when the question of its existence was
to be decided by the voluntary acquiescence of those
upon whom its stern lesson was to be enforced. In
calm discussion, and amidst almost universal approval,
the Bill was passed. It was to provide a restraint
against national folly whenever it should reach the
extent of endangering national credit, but there was
no possibility of ensuring that this provision, made
in soberness, should be voluntarily acquiesced in when
excitement might reach its height. It was admirable
to see the pledge taken, but it was also easy to fore-
tell the probability of its being broken.
But, let that event occur when it might, it was
always supposed it would be during the rush, and not
at the subsidence of a panic. On Friday, in London,
everything indicated a greater feeling of steadiness.'
On Saturday accounts came from Liverpool of a
" perceptible improvement;" from Manchester it was
'reported, " everything here continues quiet, and
there is a more hopeful feeling beginning to prevail ;"
while from America we had tidings of bullion on its
way, to the extent of upwards of a quarter of a
million. With Monday came reports of a meeting
of
at Newcastle—onegreat centres of excitement
—expressing unreserved confidence in the banks,
coupled with accounts of persons bringing back their
money, and being ver
to deposit it; while f y p
Amster-
dam, and all parts of the Continent, came tidings of
even larger shipments of gold than those which had
been announced from America.
meeting in the metropolis,ro properly refused permission
rom St. Petersburgh,
ca. At this moment a
similar to that at New-
castle, would most probably have been the only thing
needed to complete the restoration of confidence—at
least,
of that kind of confidence which renders the'
legitimate trader safe, while it leaves the speculator
still powerless. But the bankers of London raised.
no word of response to the provinces. Complaining
of the " want of confidence," they performed what
they considered to be their duty to their country in
answering the improved feeling by a terrified rush to
Downing-street.
That movement having been successful, the' Go-
vernment has now fairly taken the crisis onitsown
shoulders. The consequences may easily be foreseen.
A general belief that the worst is over i awithhold-
ing of shipments, which would otherwise have been
forced off at a sacrifice ; a rise in the yrice of cotton
as well as of all other articles; a stf,ady increase of
imports a continuanoo of n 41174 works ; and