The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1847.

One month since the Chancellor of the Exchequer
assured the deputation from the coal-owners, mer-
chants, manufacturers, ship-owners, and others inte-
rested in trade and commerce, of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
" that there was not any just cause ftr the appre-
hensions which the deputation and the mercantile body
of Newcastle appeared to entertain—that the Bank of
England had not limited it; discounts—that as far as
he knew, and he fully believed, it was not the inten-
tion of the directors of the Bank to limit discounts, as
they had done in April, or to resort to any other strin-
gent measures—that he felt confident the worst was
past, and he thought the alarm which then existed
would speedily subside." Well, we have since
had an opportunity of testing the soundness
of the Right Hon. Gentleman's judgment, the
accuracy of his views, and, unfortunately, the
events have not verified the pleasing anticipations
with which he endeavoured to calm the fears of those
who depicted the lamentable condition of the country
—the deranged state of monetary affairs; who urged
upon him, as financial Minister, the embarrassing and
injurious consequences which must inevitably result
from any lengthened continuance of the pressure on
the whole trade of the empire, and prayed that the
Government should take into their consideration the
Present banking enactments, with a view to the re-
laxation of the same. Since that period failures
have taken place to the amount of twenty mil-
lions of pounds sterling ; the -price of Consols
has fallen more than six per cent.; the then
price for present transfer being from 861 to 85i,
while a still greater depreciation
aesi has taken place in
shares the value of railway
zlithe established lines,
the London and North-Western
shakes having fallen
20th be
from 1611., the quotation of the September, to
1411. on the 19th October, or 20/
the Great Western shares have deCleitriedshare ; while
thin the
same period from 161. prem. to par. Every other de-
scription of property has been deteriorated in a similar
manner; chile, in the language of the banker, mer-
chants, and traders of Liverpool, " produce oievery
description is only saleable in small quantities, and
at an enormous sacrifice ; bills of exchange, and
the most valuable securities, are unconvertible
into cash, even at great depreciation, except to the
most insignificant amounts. Foreign orders for
produce and gocds cannot be executed for want of
the customary facilities for disposal of the bills drawn
against them. Confidence is all but annihilated, and
the currency of the country in a great measure with-
drawn and hoarded." Even within the last few
days, we find the Bank of England unable to make'
the necessary advances in money to sustain a provin-
cial establishments with a paid-up capital of 600,0004
sterling, although ready to lend stock to the required
amount.

Such wilful blindness, so grievous a want of fore-
sight in the Person to -whose charge the financial in-

terests of the country are confided, affords by no
Imeans a favourable augury for our future procperitr-
A man of clear and comprehensive mind, with power
to understand and profit by the signs of the times,
with wisdom to devise, and energy and boldness to
carry into execution the measures necessary to meet
the emergency, is required to fill that important
position. When the vessel is in danger of being
cast upon shoals and quicksands, the crew will
scarcely be contented to leave the helm in the hands
of a pilot who shows himself wholly unacquainted
with the dangers by which he is surrounded. Sir
CHARLES WOOD may be well assured that unless
he is prepared to exhibit a greater degree of
activity, unless he speedily take some steps to
mitigate the frightful evils now existing, he
will forfeit the confidence of those who have hitherto
yielded him an independent and honest support, and
that an earnest demand will be made by persons of
every shade and variety of political feeling that a
competent person should be selected to fill the high
situation, the duties of which the Right Hon. Baronet
is no longer capable of discharging with credit to
himself or advantage to the nation.
There is little consolation to be gathered
from the result of the meeting which yes-
terday took place. Each suggestion that was
offered was immediately negatived, and th 9 im-
pression left upon the minds of the gentlemen
who formed the Liverpool deputation was, that Sir
CHARLES WOOD had not, up to that period, been
thoroughly acquainted with the alarming pres-
sure that existed. Every proposition was met by
some difficulty, and no hope was held out that
the Government would interpose in any manner to
allay the existing alarm, :or to relieve the dreadful
pressure. It was suggested that a temporary ad-
vance of Exchequer-bills, on,the security of Consols
and produce, would effect an immense amount of

benefit for the mercantile classes, and by tending to

allay groundless alarms, would cause the release of
large sums of money which were now locked up, and
comparatively profitless, in consequence of the panic
that prevailed. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
remarked that in London the plan was not
thought applicable, and that it would not
meet the evil complained of. Now, although
we do not believe that it would by
any means be the best mode that could be adopted,
because the great want is a sufficient circulation, and
that would not be remedied unless the bills so ad-

vanced were issued in such small amounts as to pass
readily from hand to hard—say in sums of 51. or 101.
each, yet we would remind the Right Hon. Baronet
that there is a precedent for such a course, and that

its results were most beneficial. In 3.793,:when there
was a great pressure, and commercial distress, occa-
sioned by a panic and general want of
confidence, the Government of the day pledged
the credit of the country to sustain the mer-
cantile interests, loans of Exchequer-bills were made
to no less than 238 merchants of established cha-

racter and reputation, to the amount of 2,202,2001.
of which 2,015,000/. was advanced upon mere
personal security, and 187,2001. on the deposit of
goods, and we may add, that there was not the loss
of one single shilling of this vast amount ; that the
whole was faithfully and honourably repaid, and that
an incalculable amount of injury to -our trade and
commerce was averted without the slightest damage
to any. The other suggestion that was made, viz.,

that the Government should authorise the Bank to
issue an additional 5,000,000/. in notes, to be based
on Government securities and India bonds for a period
of six months, and at the rate of six per cent. interest,
appears more feasible, and we cannot see the objection
that could be urged to it by the most jealous bullionist ;
his darling principle would still be inviolate, at least
until it received its final doom from the Legislature.
The money is not required to go out of the country,
but for its internal wants ; but this the Chancellor of
the Exchequer said would be contrary to law, and that
the Government did not feel justified in so doing, and
expressed his fears that the present, evil would be
rather increased than diminished if matters were not
allowed to take their course. Mils, then, appears
to be the decision of the Right Hon. Gentleman. He
will remain in helpless apathy, whine all classes in
the country are reduced to the verge• of bankruptcy
and insolvency. In olden times it was consi-
dered that it was the duty of to. Government

o interfere when a crisis had arrived and the cond

tion of the country had become alarming. Sir
CHARLES Woon seems to think that be is to stand
with folded arms, regarding the spreading ruin with-
out an exertion or effort. He will incur no risk ;
he will not advance one step beyond the

limits of the law; he will not even an-
nounce his intention one day before the usual
period, although a simple declaration might avert
the greatest evil. If this is his final determination,
there is but one course left for the people. Let them,
through their representatives, demand an immediate
assembling of Parliament, that others, not in office,
may take the sense of the Legislature on the mea-
sures necessary for the preservation of the national
credit, and bring forward the financial propositions,
which usually are offered by a Chancellor of the
Exchequer.

Never was there a greater necessity for sanitary
improvements in the metropolis, the larger cities, and
the more populous towns of the -United Kingdom,
than now when the Asiatic Cholera is hastening west-
wards, and when to the accumulated causes of epi-
demic and contagious disease, are being added the
prospective inclemency of winter, and the privations
inevitable from the numerous mer cantile failures
produced by the derangement of thfe national cur-
rency. Everything combines to elicit from the
Legislature a comprehensive measure founded upon
the annotations of the Sanitary Commissioners, just
as the potato rot evoked the Ministerial declaration
in favour of free trade, and expedited the, downfal
of the obsolete system of protection.. Filth, mendi-
city, and physical degradation, can never be eradi-
cated from the population so long as there is
no possible equilibrium between the interests of the
community. To anticipate any such, sweeping move-
ment from the corporeal benefactiong of the Govern-
ment would be as frivolous as to anticipate the dissi-
pation of ignorance by the gratuitous distribution of
primers, or the diffusion of morality by the dogmas
of a stereotyped catechism. We :Ere by no means
sanguine that those who find an insuperable difficulty
in obtaining the panem quotidianem will evince any
remarkable solicitude to cultivate habits of cleanliness
and regularity. Dirt is as much an indigenous cha-
racteristic of the rookeries as sobriety of de-
meanour is that :of the conventicle. It would
be as contrary to reason to expect that
a housewife, on the threshold of whose home sit the
gaunt lares of coldness, nakedness, and destitution,
would bestir herself to cleanse the bare floors, and
dust the empty cupboards, as it would have been for
DEFOE to have described ROBINSON CBUSOE, on the
desolate island, extracting the essence from rose-
leaves to anoint his hair, instead of churning goat's
milk into butter, and drying grapes into " raisins-o'-
the-sun." Famine is enough to render even the most
fastidious indifferent to neatness ; and, upon the same
principle, those who are in perpetual uncertainty as to
the manner in which their daily bread can be earned,
will be more than indifferent to the recommendations
of the Sanitary Commissioners.
Can there be a moment's question that such a
disinclination will be manifested by the more impo-
verished members of the labouring population, and
especially by those who are accusto med to want and
degradation, when there is found amongst the most
prominent violators of public decency one of the
trustees for the cleansing of the parish in which he
is a resident ? The individual whose disgraceful
proceedings rendered him yesterday- the recipient of
a magisterial reprimand in the Thames Police-court
for this extraordinary dereliction of his parochial
duty, appears to have allowed his dwelling-house to
become so far a pestilential nuisance t;cf the neighbour-
hood of Lower Shadwell, that he was
summoned before Mr. YARDLEY actually
proved
dbY histy bsee rov landlord.
A. more disgusting ease has not
recently
ex-
posed to the public than the one which wa
against JOHN FOSTER by the local beadle D
and which has been formally published in the polic
intelligence. And it is from the frequent recurrencee
of such annoyances that the more densely populated
quarters of London are rendered sn peculiarly in-
salubrious and that the weekly returt is of mortality
betray in_their regard such:a distressing disproportion.
Another circumstance, pregnant with :miseries both of _