The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-12 00:00:00

Int

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1847.

Much anxiety is usually felt by all classes during
the week immediately preceding the assembling of
Parliament. A natural curiosity exists as to the nature
of the recommendations that may be contained in the
Speech from the Throne, and the character and extent of
the measures that may be founded thereon by the Minis-
try. There are usually many points on which re-
forms have been demanded, in which it is hoped that
some concessions may be made to the popular demand.
Questions affecting the interests of particular classes
are discussed, and speculations made, how
far existing restrictions may be maintained or re-
laxed, in order to afford some guide to parties desirous
of entering into transactions with respect thereto, that
they may judge the most suitable time for making pur-
chases or sales or any description of contrac ts. The ensu-
ing meeting of the Legislature, however, possesses un-
usual interest, and the public attention is concen-
trated with more than ordinary energy on the
proceedings of their representatives. It is not merely
that the popular branch of the Legislature has re-
cently been elected, and that a great number of new
and untried Members have obtained admission to St.
Stephen's ; neither is it that the meeting is to take
place at a most unusual period of the year, and that
the ease and tranquillity ordinarily enjoyed by the
Ministry previous to the Christmas holidays, is,
during the present season, to be exchanged for the
bustle
of Parliamentary strife and party warfare,
that has occasioned so deep an interest. It is rather
the certainty that the first subject which be
brought before the., Legislature by her MA:ESTY'eS
Government will
ere ate to the monetary laws of the
country—to
which_.. ter
ter
so rdinary nature of the emer-
gency
fearfulproperty, public
a depreciation of every
description of
eminentunprecedented
mercantile and bank-
ing establishments, the
dented failure of
credit, and the general embarrassmentsPre
and financial
difficulties by which all persons
trade,
in
nnd after
commerce, or manufactures, were affected--and
the almost universal cessation of employment, that ex-
posed the working classes to the greatest privations
and
distress at a time when a bountiful and abundant harvested
bad just been garnered—had established the utter
failure and inefficiency of the existing system, ar.d
compelled the Ministry not only to sanction but even
to recommend a suspension and possible violation of
the law, in order to stay the panic, restore the de-
parted confidence, and arrest the evils and the de-
struction which a few short weeks might have ren-
dered irreparable. Other subjects of interest will
undoubtedly be brought forward, but the contem-
plated alteration in the monetary laws is the all-
absorbing topic that occupies the public mind, almost
to the exclusion of all others. Will Ministers still
attempt to maintain the principle of a convertible
currency, of a fixed price for bullion ? Will they
still maintain the Act of 1819, or suffer it to fall
with that of 1844, its complement and corollary ?
Will they merely introduce new restrictions sub-

stituting an increased rate of interest as
the check against over-issues by the Bank,
whenever a drain of gold is taking place,
instead of the absolute prohibition that at pre-
sent exists, or permit the directors to exercise their
own discretion as fully as they were permitted to do
before 1844 ? or will they introduce a measure of
enlarged and comprehensive policy, giving free trade
in gold, as in all other commodities, and providing a
currency amply sufficient for the wants of the
country, and secured upon all the national re-
sources ? The fame and character of the Whig
Ministry, the prosperity of the British people, and
the maintenance of the public revenue, will mainly
depend on the answers that will be returned to these
interrogatories.

It is manifest that a real convertibility does not
and cannot exist, neither can any legislative enact-
ments possibly establish it. Gold could not by any
means be procured in. sufficient abundance to carry,
on the ordinary business of the country, compli-
cated as it is by the burden of cur national
debt, the enormous weight of taxation consequent
thereon, and the large amount of realised property or
capital, which alone amounts to more than 200
millions of pounds sterling per annum. We have
already shown that if there was a general demand on
the Bank to satisfy all its liabilities, as well on notes
as deposits in gold coin, that it could scarcely pay
4s. in the pound on the amount. True it is that it
possesses, in Government and other securities ample
assets, to guard against the possibility of any person
being subjected to loss; but after all, the ultimate
foundation of its solvency and stability is the Go-
vernment debt owing to it, and in which it possesses
a mortgage not only on all the existing property of
the country, but on all its labour and resources of every
description. That.is the true ground:on which credit
is given to the Bank, and such universal confidence
entertained in the validity of its promises. But
why should not notes issued directly by the Govern-
ment, and without the intervention of the Bank, be
just as readily received. A vast saving would be
effected to the nation thereby. At present on an aver-
age about 20,000,0001. of Exchequer-bills are issued
to provide for the public expenditure, and in anticipa-
tion of the proceeds of our taxation. These are pur-
chased with notes issued by the Bank, and bearing no
interest, while the country is subjected to the interest
on these bills, the whole of which might easily be
saved by issuing them in small denominations, when
they would readily pass from hand to hand, and be re-
ceived in discharge of all the ordinary obligations. Notes
of this description would be amply sufficient for all the
internal traffic in the country, and if gold was re-
quired for the arrangement of our balances with
other lands, it might readily be procured at a very
trifling advance, if any. The favourite argument of
the bullionists is, that it would be dealing unfairly
with creditors who have advanced their money on the
faith of the liability being discharged in so many
ounces of gold of a given weight and fineness,
to pay them in a depreciated currency.
This argument has been so well answered in the ad-
mirable letter of Mr. CAPPS, the secretary to the
Anti-Gold-law League, which appeared in The Sun
on Wednesday, and which is quite conclusive on the
question, that we shall not now refer thereto. In
truth, there would be no breach of either national
faith or national honesty in such a course,
We are perfectly satisfied that if due care were taken
to guard the issues, so that an undue amount should
not be sent into circulation, there would be no such
depreciation of the currency as the advocates of the
present law, without a particle of foundation for the
assertion, assume would be the case. Property would
not of course be sacrificed at an enormous
loss to obtain a representative of value to
enable its possessor to discharge his lia-
bilities, as unfortunately has recently been and
still is the case ; neither would such exorbitant rates
of interest, such legalised usury as now prevails, he
obtainable ; but as much value would be procured for
these notes as could be got for an equal number
of sovereigns, when there was a fair supply
of money in the country, and there would
not be those constant fluctuations that have
prevailed unier the present system, and
which have had such injurious effects on all classes.
It is absurd to say that because the guinea commanded
a premium of 7s. or Bs. during the height of the war,
and when an enormous amount of gold was exported
for the use of our armies and for foreign subsidies,
hich of course greatly enhanced its value, that
similar result would follow when there are no such
causes to occasion it. On the contrary, it is more
reasonable to suppose that the increased production
that would take place, from all our operatives being
fully employed, would lead to an influx of bullion.
The taxation should be satisfied to an amount
equal to the notes in circulation, and if the
persons about to pay it had not notes, they should
do so in gold ; this simple fact would alone prevent
any great difference in value between the national
notes and the amount of gold they would represent,
and which, in default of them, should be paid into
the Exchequer, in their place. 'We trust that our
representatives may maturely consider these points
before they suffer themselves to be led away by the
unfounded arguments that have been advanced.

Since Cardinal JOHN ifASTAI FERRETTI was first
elevated to the Pontificate, and took the initiative in
the political liberation of the Italians, the popular
movement has proceeded with magnificent success
throughout the whole of that classic peninsula. The
shades of the elder BRUTUS, of the GRACCHII, and of
RIENZI the Tribune, seem to have become the tutelary
divinities of the soil, and the Genius of Liberty seems
to avenge at last the woes of many bygone genera•
tions. The principles of liberality have affected the
different principalities, as it were, by a moral con-
tagion, and their ebullition has been manifested, not
merely among those who are obedient to Pius IX.
and LEOPOLD 11., but likewise among the less for-
tunate vassals of FERDINAND of the TwO Sicilies.
The duchy of Lucca has been so far influenced by the
sentiments of patriotism as to disencumber itself of its
inefficient and depressive Government. The duchies of
Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, have been stirred
to their entrails. The golden rod of the Modenese
ruler has trembled in his grasp, and the passionate
acclamations of joy by which the concessions of the
more southern princes have been welcomed, has
found a response in the hearts, and kindled a con-
genial enthusiasm in the bosoms of the Lombardo-
Venetians. From first to last of these most memora-
ble proceedings the reforming PONTIFF has been
emulated lu bis immortal acts of civism by one who
had a reputation to restore and a legislature to re-
organize—the Piedmontese Sovereign, CnAimEs
ALBERT, the King of Sardinia. The deeds by which
this Monarch has illustrated his times, and associated
his name with those of Pius and LEOPOLD, are cha-
racterised by so much of regal magnanimity as to
render them worthy of being commemorated by a
CAMOENS and chronicled by a TACITUS. CHARLES
ALBERT has abandoned himself heart and soul to the
popular movement. His reign is more logical than
the treatise of BOLINGBROKE. He has combined in
himself the characteristics of a Liberator and a King ;
and the gratitude of the Piedmontese has just
afforded him some conception of the certain admira-
tion of posterity.
Within the present November the Liberal Sove-
reign of SARDINIA was received with extraordinary
pomp by the Genoese, after a series of ovations from
Alessandria to Rivarola. The narrative of his arrival
and reception at Genoa, published in the .Nourelliste
of Marseilles, reads almost like a chapter from the
" Arabian Nights' Entertainments." It is the
intensity of such loyalty as was experienced
towards good HALROUN ALRASCHID. At the
gates of Genoa—the city of marble palaces—
CrititiAesßLEasnaAs7o7o wofas
the
eet by the civic autho-
rities
wel-
comeli‘,e Cofut_htßeLmEusltitude was auspicious—it
inhabitants.
was
aTs li,e,
Long
ALBERT, the Itefo ' Prince !"
historic
moreover, in the insignia of the procannen
There was an airat
sdsl
inogn. appropriate,
Among
once
other conspicuous personaigneshiswbas
hand the
thethe
standard
' GEORGIO DORIA, bearing
takene
sfer.o mT
ht he er e
pArue
ss
et rnitaantsi v
ei ns
olf 7
t4hfie
PA n
etehl
of DURAZZO and of BALni—names which, the
hheroic
houses
like that
of DORIA, are inscribed in the first pages of the
golden book—carried before the KING the gonfalons
of Genoa and Piedmont. On the banner held
by the learned Marquis PARETO was embla-
" Eviva Italia." On that borne by the Abbe
zoned

DE SAN MATTED, was written " Eeiea GIOBERTO
The priesthood carried olive branches and the citi-
zens flags with significant inscriptions. Before the
facade of the royal residence the troops and the
people fraternised. In the evening the city was illu-
miriated, and CHARLES ALBERT traversed its streets
on horseback surrounded by one hundred torches and
greeted everywhere by cries of joy and homage. The
Corporation of Commerce laid its banner at his feet.
The printers did in like manner. Before the College
of the Jesuits the cheering ceased and was succeeded
by a prolonged clamour—"Eviva GIOBERTI"—
GIOBERTI, the Prophet of Italian Freedom ! At the
grand entrance of the palace a civilian burst from
the crowd and, falling upon his knee, kissed
the hand of the KING, beseeching him to grant
an amnesty to all political offenders. The supplica-
tion was re-echoed by many thousand voices; the air
resounded with the appeal " Amnesty ! amnesty !"
The KING wept, says an eye-witness, and extending
his hand to those who surrounded him, replied in
these remarkable words—words which posterity will
enregister in history—"My people! my brethren !
What you demand shall he done—you shall be con-
tented. I will accord all that can make you happy! "
We can readily conceive the sensation this spectacle
and these words must have inspired. We can com-
prehend the earnestness with which the same writer
continues his narrative :—" How can I describe the
enthusiasm of the people which sees the era of liberty
open before them ? I say enthusiasm, but I am
wrong—it was not enthusiasm—it was delirium—it
was frenzy !" Such testimonies as these, and as the
jubilees which have recently been held at Villa Nova,
at Monferrato, at Fossano, at Saluzzo, at Sussa, and
at other towns and cities of Piedmont, assure us that
the days of Italian subserviency and Austrian domi-
nation are alike being consummated.
True to its principles of liberality—true to those
principles which were at once the passion and the in.
spiration of CHARLES JAMES Fox, the Government
of England is responding with a generous alacrity to
the patriotic fervour of the Roman peninsula. Pius
IX., CHARLES ALBERT 1., and LEOPOLD 11., find
evidences of friendship among the ministerial ad-
visers of VicToara. Lord MINT°, the especial re-
presentative of her MAJESTY, appeared as recently as
on the 30th of October on the balcony of his hotel at
Arezzo, and amidst cries of "Long live the friends of
Italian Independence, the Customs League, and
England I" answered the citizens with " Long live
LEOPOLD 11. and Italian Independence !" While the
revolutionary monarchy of France is retrograding into
an absolutist dynasty, the retrograde Governments of
Italy are progressing upwards into the glory and
stability of constitutional principalities. It is agree-
able to turn from the degeneracy of one Court to the
almost miraculous vigour and clemency of another ;
and it is grateful to find that in the midst of these
momentous and surprising changes England still
keeps pace with the Apostles of Progression, that she
is still in the van of the popular movement.

The Levant Mail has arrived, bringing Constanti-
nople journals of the 27th, and Athens papers to the
30th ult., and intelligence from Malta to the 2d inst.
The Journal de Constantinople of the 26th ult.
has the following:—
" We had announced in a preceding number that
King Otho had addressed an autograph letter to the
Emperor of Russia to claim his good offices in the
Turco-Greek dispute. At present, it is affirmed that
the Cabinet of Athens has decided to refer this matter
to the five Powers. We remark, in fact, that recently
the communications between the Porte and the
foreign representatives have been much more frequent.
We cannot say how this new combination has been
received by the Divan. These continual changes
prove sufficiently the extent of the embarrassment
into which Greece finds herself thrown. It appears
to us that it is a matter of perfect indifference to the
Porte whether Greece applies to the five Powers or
to one ; the important matter for her is that the
Cabinet of Athens accords the just satisfaction which
is demanded."

We learn from the same journal that the Sultan
has spared the lives of the rebels BEDERHAN BET and
MAtimour, KHAN, but ordered them into perpetual
exile and imprisonment. They have been sent away
from Constantinople in custody, the former to the
Fort of Candia, the latter to Rutschuk. The fol-
lowing on the cholera is extracted from the same
source :

"It has been communicated to us by the sanitary
committee :—' A case of cholera took place here on
October 24, and was duly testified to by the com-
mittee. The person attacked was a female servant ;
,he died the day after.' Letters from Trebizonde,
hich arrived at Constantinople on Oct. 23 by the
Austrian steamer, state that the cholera had com-
pletely disappeared from that city, and that there
were only a few scattered cases in two or three of
the neighbouring villages. The malady had also
ceased at Erzeroum, the sharp cold which had set in
having, it was thought, contributed to that result.
Besides, the cholera was not very deadly in this
latter place, as out of 30,000 souls there were only
700 deaths."

The Moulin?. Grec announces that the KING had
refused to receive the address of the Senate, which
was tantamount to a vote of no confidence in the
Ministry, and which had been voted by 23 to 16,
and that he had nominated a sufficient number of
new Senators to secure a majority. As, by the
confession of COLETTI on his death-bed, the Greek
Ministry merely carries out the orders and wishes
of M. GUIZOT and Louis PHILIPPE, we may reason-
ably conclude that this is their method of:carrying out
the principles of constitutional government.
Letters from Malta, of the 3d instant, state that a
mutiny took place in the night of the 31st ult. on
board the Superb, 80 guns, in consequence of an
order of Commander WiumoT forbidding the men to
smoke. The mutineers extinguished the lights, broke
the crockery belonging to their messes, and insulted
their officers. At ten o'clock, however, they had
returned to their duty, thanks to the firmness of
Commander WILMOT, and several of the mutineers
were placed in irons.

The Berne journals of the 7th, and those of Geneva
of the same date, contain nothing to confirm the re-
port of hostilities having commenced. General D UFOUR
has addressed to his troops a proclamation recom-
mending discipline, exemplary conduct, and respect
for the property of the priesthood. The Suisse
of the 7th has the following :—" The most inter-
esting news to-day is that the contingent of infantry
of Bale, which had been shut up in their barracks,
are anxious to join the Federal army, and the soldiers
of Bale-Campagne, dissatisfied at not wearing the
Federal brassaro, 190 soldiers left the barracks with
their drums beating, and, having assembled at a
brewery, drew up a petition praying to be allowed to
join the Federal service or to be disbanded."
The Bale Gazette of the 9th has the following from
Berne :—" Hostilities have commenced near Friburg;
i the soldiers of the Landsturm of Friburg fired some
shots at the soldiers of Berne, but without doing any
execution. On the advance of the troops of Berne
1 the Landsturm retired."
The Grand Council of Bale Ville has decided on
placing its contingent at the service of the Federal
Government, but with a declaration that it is filled
with horror at the prospect of civil war, and yields to
the demand of the Federal Government only from
necessity.
The report of the murder of two citizens of Berne
by the fanatical partisans of the Jesuits in Friburg
is confirmed by the Gazette of Zurich. These
unfortunate men had been ripped open alive
and then hanged. These atrocious murders are solely
attributable to the fanaticism which the Friburg au-
thorities endeavour to excite among the ignorant
peasantry. As a proof of the means to which the
Jesuits of Friburg do not scruple to have recourse
to stimulate the fanaticism of those who blindly trust
in them, it may be sufficient to state that the Bishop
if FRIBURG, in a sermon which he recently preached
it Bulle before a congregation of 7,000 . persons,
ictually told them "that at Berne the image
of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of
GOD, had been paraded about upon an ass,
snd hooted at and pelted." When the teachers
ire wilful calumniators it is not surprising
that the taught should be murderers. The
aatmonradpetJesuitslermdo are endeavouring to make this a war of re-
ligion, and everywhere accompany the troops of the
Sonderbund. Four Jesuit priests of Friburg, made
ina: opgp i.
their
elo: cruet expulsionatt h thee pofse ferry
positions.
no
som.f Bslwrf oi itt nearezh,eerlJesuitsa
nL aan
dwS ai
shuhogelevd,
pacotmibpieletisel completelyjustifiedpreservation the D ioeft
ainsyitnhidneg-
utterly file;
like legal order with their* presence in a state, they

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