The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

the power of the Company in Asia was threat- •
ened with tremendous and appalling perils at the
period when Viscount HARDINGE undertook the
affairs of their enormous and superb dominions.
Through all those perils he has carried the standard
of the Company, not merely without rent or abase-
ment, but with additional accessions of glory. Instead
of; danger along the banks of the Sutlej, there is
more of safety and stability on those frontiers of
British India than has been experienced under the
direction of almost any one of his predecessors.
As a testimony of the security which has been
insured by the policy of his Excellency, we may
mention that there has been a further reduction of
50 men in each regiment, on 150 Native Infantry
corps, reducing the muster-roll by 7,000 or 8,000
men, and diminishing the expenditure by nearly
60,0001. per annum. Remarkable as is this supple.
mentary curtailment, it has, nevertheless, left the
army stronger than it was ten years ago by nearly
45,000 men, and somewhere about 900 officers.
As a preparative to the administration of the Earl
of DALHOUSIE, nothing could be of a more serious
character as auguring a serious comparison between
himself and his predecessor than this wholesale reduction
in the standing army, preceded as that reduction has
been by so many brilliant achievements of a military
kind. Lord DAsmousin will have to advance in
spite of this alarming ordeal, but he will also find
that his course has been marvellously facilitated by
the skill, the valour, and the sagacity of the dis-
tinguished Captain in whose footsteps he must follow.
He will experience less obstructions.from the warlike
races of Hindostan, but he will meet in the end with
a severer criticism from the mass of his fellow-
! countrymen.

Both Houses of Parliament have adjourned their

sittings, and the labours of either branch of the Le-
gislature are suspended until the 3d of February
next. On the vitally important question of the dis-
tress which is so prevalent in all parts of the country
nothing of the slightest value, or from which an im-
provement in the condition of the country may be
hoped for, has taken place. A Committee, indeed,
has been appointed to inquire into the causes thereof,
and how far they have been affected by the laws for
regulating the issue of bank-notes payable on de-
mand, but we have already pointed out the utter
inutility of such a Committee, the impossibility
of their making their report within any reasonable
time, so as to hold out any prospect of an improve-
ment in our monetary code for many years to come,
or of a circulation adequate to the wants and exigen-
cies of the country. Meanwhile the Act of 1844,
which so fearfully aggravated the panic and increased
the difficulties of the nation, is revived in all its
stringency, and although its temporary suspension,
or rather, we may say, the general knowledge, that
the directors might violate its: provisions, and trans-

- - gress the limits thereby assigned, if any necessity for
such a proceeding should arise, was attended with the
most beneficial results, and it became manifest
even to the Char.cellor of the Exchequer that
its continuance must have occasioned the most

fearful consequences—the country is again subjected
to its baneful operation, and no provision has been
made to enable the Government to sanction an in-
creased issue by the Bank, if circumstances should
render such a course expedient. The remonstrance
of the bankers of the metropolis, who in 1844 pointed
out to the then Premier the dangers that might arise
from the absenee of such a provision, is still neg-
lected, although their opinions respecting its probable
results have been so painfully verified.
" We are apprehensive that the absolute limi-

tation of the °issue to 14,000,0001., without any
power of expansion being reserved, whether that
amount lee in itself a proper amount or not, will

create a general feeling of uneasiness throughout the
country, and, by preventing the satisfactory recep-
tion of the measure, will deprive the scheme of many
of the advantages it possesses, and interfere with its
success. We respectfully submit that the effect of
such an absolute limitation, will be to restrict the
business of the country, by leading to a general with-
drawal of legitimate accommodation, unless some
power be reserved by the Bill for extending
the issue with the sanction of the authorities
above alluded to, in cases of emergency,
to be made apparent to such authorities."
Such was the statement bearing the signature of
every banking firm in London (with a single excep-
tion), which, on the 1 1 tit of June, 1844, was pre-
sented to Sir ROBERT PEEL; but the warning was
disregarded, a species of insanity had seized the
Legislature, and despite of the protests of those whose
avocations and experience eminently qualified them
to form a sound judgment on the point, the fatal
enactment was carried, and, we regret to say, is still
maintained in all its stringency. _ _

We are rejoiced to find that the Member for
Stamford has announced his intention of " bringing
forward the subject on one of the earliest days after
the re-assembling of Parliament." The embarrass.
meats under which the manufacturers are now
labouring., and the depressed condition of the arti-
wins and operatives throughout the country, were
depicted by the Right Hon. Gentleman with much
force. He stated that two-fifths of the working
classes in the manufacturing districts were at present
out of employment ; that of the remainder a portion
only were in full employ; and that a large number
of factories and mills were working short time, and
no inconsiderable number were not working at all.
If to these things were added the fact that merchants
abroad are purchasing cotton at a lower price than
our merchants, and carrying away to foreign
countries produce which ought to be in the hands of
our own operatives—it proves that the most anxious
deliberation, not only of the Government, but of Par-
liament itself, is required." This is most assuredly
the case. What topic can be more worthy of consi-
deration than the means by which the national re-
sources may be fully developed—tbe national labour
fully and beneficially employed. The real wealth,
the real capital of a nation, consists in the quantity
of labour it possesses, as we have repeatedly pointed
out ; accumulated capital of any kind is really no-
thing but "hoarded labour," and the first
object of any Government should be to afford
every facility for the occupation of every
man in the country able and willing to
work. At present these facilities are withheld.
From the want of a sufficient circuTation, and the
consequent high rate of interest at which money is
maintained, production is checked, a more than rea-
sonable proportion of the profits are taken from
the manufacturer by the money-lender, and prices are
also depreciated to an alarming degree. He cannot
keep his factories open without a serious loss. His
workmen are discharged, and obliged to await in
idleness the approach of more propitious times, and
become a burden on the resources of the:kingdom,
in place of being the producers of national wealth ;
and all this is occasioned—the prosperity of the
country sacrificed—and the great body of the people
Compelled to submit to the greatest trials and pri-
vations, that an abstract theory may be maintained•
The safety and happiness of the nation is made to
give way to the security of the metallic standard.

By the Levant mail we have received advices from
Constantinople to the 2d December, and from Malta
to the 11th.

The Porte has officially announced the entire paci-
fication of Albania.

The Turkish local paper announces that the SUL-
TAN has ordered the construction of three military
institutions for soldiers, aged from twelve to twenty
—one to be established at Adrianople, a second at
Brussa, and the third at Damascus.

The intelligence from Malta is important. At the
moment of the departure of the packet the news
reached that island by a steamer from Corfu, " that
a revolution had broken out in Greece; that there
was hard fighting in Patras, in the garrison ; and
that the Governor was a prisoner in the hands of the
insurgents." It is said that GRIVAS was at the head
of the rebellion.
Intelligence had also arrived at Malta of an insur-
rection at Tripoli. The PACHA had been defeated
by the insurgents, and had applied to the SULTAN for
assistance. The British Admiral had dispatched a
ship of war to Tripoli, to protect British interests.
The insurrection, it is said, was planned in Tunis.
Madrid papers of the 14th have arrived.

still proceeding in
The debate on the Address was
the Senate. Great savings are to be proposerny the
Finance Minister in the Budget. A reconciliation