The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-08 00:00:00

EVENING EDIT'.
like all other elections io this country, lit:
merge in politics ; in the competition iv
Tories, Conservatives and it niirods. 7ift-
es 0
that cs.n be said of this scheme is, that
practicable ; and with this impression
it appears to us needless to follow it thro • 07,
ramifications.
if the medical proru.sion as a body posktaditfirl4av
and charities, or as individuals had soma spew,
powers and privileges which required protection, it
would b,t reasonable to consider how far a system of
popular untl represcotative gozeroment might be made
applicable to it. But no such occasion exists, and we
own that we are not sufficiently far sighted to discover
what good reason there can he for introducing into it
such an element of agitation and discord.
We have already shown that what is wanted is stir-
ply shit : that the moilica! profession should be rerrdercd
as useful as possible to society, and that it should he
enabled to maintain for it sill. an honourable an I respect-
able station in it ; and we are much mistaken if tv,r
have not also shown that the machinery of the medical
corporations, such as they now are, is not sufficient to
produce the desired result. That these corporations
should have no responsibility, except to themselves, is
an anomaly which ought not to be allowed any longer
to exist ; and we cannot conceive to whom they can so
properly be made responsible as to those from whom
their authority has minuted, the Crown and the Le-
gislature. Nor would there be tiny dirlicuky in carrying
such a plan into effect, nor would any complicated op-
parAtus be necessary for the purpose.
Let us suppose that au Act of Parliament were pass,-if
=king some such alterations as we have already sug-
gested in the charters of the colleges, and in tho Apo-
thecaries' Act of 1615, and any others which on fur-
ther consideration of the subject might be found to be
desirAle ; and that the Government were authorised
to appoint certain persons who should form a Board of
Control, or, if they please to give them a gentler appel-
lation, a Board of Visitors, whose office it should be
to superintend the concerns of the different medical in-
sCtutioi s and we believe that under such an rxrange-
m,!ut all that is required might be accomplished.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

(TituttsDAY EvENINRD
Cli ONI C L E.—Thc advance which was experieneed
• yesterday in the English Funds has not bee.i fully main_
• tamed to-day. Consols at the opening of the mat ket
wore quoted 89,i, at which price they were buyers for a
short period, but subsequently gave way to 89 to 4; at
the close of business prices were a shade higher, the last
quotation being 89i. Bank Stock continues to improve,
the price having advanced since the Ist instant from 1574t0 162 i, being a rise of 5 per cent. India Stick hrs
been still more favourably influenced by the news brought
by the overland mail.
We have received in a separate form a cope of the arti-
cle on the" Currency," from the pen of Mr. James William
GiPeart, which originally appeared in the last number of
the Westminster Review. It is an able exposition of the par-
ticular views espoused by that class of writers who deny that
the currency ought to be governed by the foreign ex-
changes, and may be looked upon, we believe, as eontain-
ing the substance of the case of the Joint Stock B inks in
favour of free issues. The experience of the author,
as a practical banker, at the head of a leading joint-stock
establishment, and the undoubted talent with which he
maintains his views regarding, the management of the cir-
culation, entitle his statement to considerable weight, and
its appearance at present, near to the reassembling of
Parliament, and when the Committee on beaks of issue
are about, in consequence, to resume their labours, give
it additional importance. Mr. Gilbert is strongly opposed
to one bank of issue, and is a stanch advocate for the
Scotch system, checked by the periodical exchange of
notes, and paying the differences in gold. Mr. Gitbart,
as usual with alt writers of his school, assumes that a free
trade in banking entitles any number of persons to asso-
ciate themselves in trade as bankers, and then to make as
much paper money as they may think fit to issue, on,
what asnears to them, profitable terms. We
.differ with
him on the threshold. A free trade in banking is quite
distinct from the right to coin money, and the one may
exist totally independent of the other. The money
of the realm, whether composed entirely of gold and
silver, or partly of bullion and partly of paper con-
vertible into gold, should be exclusively made and
issued by delegation from the Crown to a hoard of
responsible officers. The right of dealing in that
money, which is time legitimate purpose of banking, should
be placed under a well devised system of legislation, on a
free basis, burdened oil with such provisions as should be
required
to maintain uniformity and safety to the public
interests.
Mr. Gilbert depends a great deal too much on the effi-
cacy of the Scotch system of weekly exchanges. Mr.
Norman, in the ccusse of his examination, on being asked
if he thought it afforded any security against over issues,
answered in the negative, and observed, " It will prevent
one bank unduly extending its issues as far as its notes
may happen to get intu the possession of other banks ;
but there have, I believe, been instances in Scotland of a
bank establishing a large circulation when all the other
banks have refused to receive its notes at all, and
at any rate it is no check whatever on a general
disposition to over issue." This is quite true. Mr.
Gilbart s iys that the contraction of the currency is always
an evil We demur to that. It is no evil to reduce an
over issue of paper to proper limits, nor to take measures
for preventing such over issue. Ile objects to the principle
of contracting e the circulation when the bullion begins to
,eiff,r from the effects of a drain, beoause, he says, " Upon
this plan there must be a perpetual increase and diminu.
tint in the stock of gold, consequently, a perpetual increase
and dimieution in the amount of the currency. The
crease In the amount of the currency would raise prices
end stimulate speculation. The diminution in the a2ionns
of the currency would reduce prices and produce distress.
~.nd thus there must be a constant alternation from high
prices to low prices, and again from low prices to high
prices, from speculation to distress, and from distress to
speculation." This is well put, but it is highly
overcharged, and is in opposition to the opinion of
Mr. Jones Loyd, who stated to the Committee that this " greatest steadiness would be produced by a systeru of
contracting issues, and expanding them, precisely in ac-
cordance with the gold ; because by that means, whenever
an efflux or influx of gold takes place, the contreetieg no-
tion commences simultaneously, consequently the eillex and
influx will, upon that system, he restrained within its tier-
roweFt bounds; and in proportion as you restrain time
efflux and influx of gold within narrow bounds, you secure
greater steadiness."
Mr. Gilbert disputes the application of tho effects of the
system of banking in the United States as a case in point,
and observes that Mr. 'Webster is not in favour of one
bank of issue, although a supporter of a national 'eaek.,
Mr. Webster stated his opinions on the subject of the
currency in his famous speech on the 2thn of Sep.
tember last, as follows :--" I hold that the regula-
tion of the currency, whether reetallio or paper—_
that a just and safe supervision over that which
virtually performs the office of money, and constitutes the
medium of Exchange whatever it may be--atecessarily
pertains to Government ; that it is one of the necessary and
indispensable prerogatives of Government."' Ile very
forcibly adds, " In the absence of all Government centred
and supervision, the wisdom and discretion regulating
the amount of merly afloat at any time in the Lemma,.
nity, is but the aggregate of the wisdom and diseretinn
of all the banks collectively oensideredi each indi'sidual
oblaankcoareicteinrgt
wfriothm
ct,he
tLcps, prompting of
gof its ovate interest, wit -
front any sense of pub-
lie duty. In my judgment, such a regulation, or such
a mode of regulating the currvey, and of deciding what
shall be the amount of money at any time existing i,t
the community, is unsafe sod untrustworthy, and is one
to which we never caul look to guard us against those
excessive expausions and contractions which have been
the souse() of such injurious consequences," We en-
tirely agree with Mr. Webster in this conclusion,
which we htvo taken from the authentic report of his
speech by Mr. Stansbury. Mr. Gilbert says he has not
been able to discover a single advantage that has Inca
gained by the evidence taken before the Committee. We
cannot agree with that opinion. The publication of the
evidence has drawn public attention to the cause of tho
frequent fluctuations in the currency. It has elicited the
opinions of the loading men, practical and theoretical,
on that important subject, and brought out their views
as to the best means for placing the circulation upon a
sound and steady basis. It has also produced Mr. Gil-
hart's case in favour of the Joint-stock banks and com..
peting issues; but the Committee have not complete(l
their task, and when they e-assemble, Mr. Gilbert and
others will likely be heard. In the mean time, we
would not advise him to be too confident in supposing
that no Government would be destructive
prosperity of the nation," as he expresses it, as to support
to the
a measure to establish one bank of issue, or rather to ap-
point a Board of Commissionerseel"!
rged with the manage..
favo
meet and issue of the money of the realm. Public opi-
nion runs stronger every day ur of such a Board.

ofof
tChootasolsfor the Febru-
ar made in the
course
in • day by two intluen.
tial brokers, caused a depression prices, but not to any
yTaieleloEu
material extent.
Alicant, according to bars received thence, dated De-
has been trrriving lately on account of the
cember 18,
Carlist bands being in possession of the high roads leading
SomeTSome es
from Valencia, 13enicarlo, Tarragona, and Barcelona, to
Madrid and the interior, so that every article intended for
those places was bought to Alicant. The return of affairs
place, has awakened in there feelings of re-
to a quieter state, far from affording any satisfaction to the
00 quintals of Newfoundland and other salt
frsttoheidos at Alicant in the course of the year, while
ifigitnssrhheapta.birarricAncinbmitopspuall exports are wines, at the following priers
(on board), viz. ;_red, two years old, 5/ ss. per pipe;
one year old, 41. 15s. ; and white, about 4/. fog.
The whole annual export of wine is net above 6,600
Pipes. Bafilla of the first quality is valued at about
6/. 15s. per ton, and of the second quality at about SI Bs..
The whole quantity shipped during the last year is sud.
posed to be not more than 4,500 tons, while a substitute
found for it in Ireland seems to render it probable that
this quantity will diminish every year. The value of
raisins shipped, at an average price of 3,1- dollars, is about
24,000/., the quantity not being above 3,000 quintals.
30,300 quintals, The shipments of this article are said
Soap is set down at about 58,0001., being in quantity
to be monthly on the increase. The trade in almonds is
also described as considerable, the yearly shipment being
valued at 23.500/. The profits of the Government tobacco
manufactory, which is in full work, are said to he hr.,.
mensc, the contractor receiving about SIS per quitital
for the leaf, while at the Government depots the
public have to pay $l5O or $2OO, both in the .manu-
fact4red and unrnanufacturcd state. The expense, of the
manufacture is nevertheless but trifling, since nf!arly tho
whole of the work is done by women, at the rate of about
4d. per day. As even the contractor has a gyod profit
out of his $lB, since the prime ei)st is only $lO or $l2,
the high price I.vllich is charged to the public is found to