The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY. OCTOBER 18, 1847.

Were any additional proof required of the present
financial difficulties by which all classes in the com-
munity are more or less affected, by which our trade
and commerce is paralysed, our productive energies
fettered and restrained, and an almost total want of
confidence exhibited on every side, it would be
afforded by the memorial which has just emanated
from the bankers, merchants, traders, and others, in-
habitants of Liverpool, and which is about to be pre-
sented to the Premier
by a highly respectable depu
tation. It
is not any light or trivial occasion
that would induce the most influential repre-
sentatives of the commerce of the first com-
mercial port in the world
a picture of the deplorable
country,to draw so startling
condition of the mercan-
tile interests of theatilt, to impress so
urgently. upon the Govez nment „ imperative ne-
cessity for such immediate relief
as e
it may
Theira power of the Government to afford." be in the
state-
ment corroborates to the fullest extent the accounts
effects we have already put forward of the of the
panic and the consequent boarding of money, T y
say that " produce of every description is only he
sl-
able in small quantities, and at an enormous sacrifice;e:
that bills of exchange and the most valuable
securities are inconvertible into cash, even
at great depreciation, except in the most insig-
nificant amounts ; that foreign orders for produce
and goods cannot be executed for want of the custo-
mary facilities for disposal of bills drawn against
them. Confidence is all but annihilated, and the cur-
rency of the country in a great measure withdrawn
and hoarded." They also add—" Your Lordship
may depend on us when we assure you that, if
the present pressure be not relieved, merchants and
other traders of undoubted respectability, who are
not only solvent but rich, and who have merchandise
and bills which, under ordinary circumstances,
would afford easy and ample means of meeting en-
gagements, will inevitably be compelled to stop pay-
ment.". Such is the view of our present position, and
of the probable Prospects of the country entertained
by persons the -most
eat competent to form a
sound
ar
judgment—men 'whothis moment suffering
under the effects of the system, and who deliberately
announce their confident belief that, unless relief is
speedily afforded, the utter prostration of the maw.

facturing and commercial interests must ensue,
whereby the labouring population will be imme-
diately thrown out of employment, and an amount
of misery and destitution will be witnessed unexam-
pled in the annals of the country.' And this is the
price we are called upon to pay in order to main-
tain inviolate a principle which even its most
ardent and enthusiastic supporters could not
advocate to its full extent, which they only
desired to be partially adopted, that the imaginary
line should not be exceeded, that the Rubicon should
not be passed which allowed the Bank of England
to issue fourteen millions of notes without the pos-
session of one single ounce of gold, but sternly re-
quired that every note beyond that amount should be
based on bullion, or, in other words, that for every
51. issued the Bank should retain five sovereigns
lying uselessly and idly in its coffers.
That the money would have returned to the coun-
try without these extraordinary exertions, that free
trade, so recently conceded, would have had the effects
which its most sanguine advocates alleged, may be
gathered from the fact that there are foreign orders
to a considerable amount, the execution of which
would afford ample occupation for our operatives.
There is a ready demand, but, alas ! the want of a
sufficient circulation, and of the ordinary facilities,
prevent our manufacturers from availing themselves
of the golden opportunity. They cannot procure the
means of carrying on their business, even at a con-
siderable sacrifice. Even if money was obtainable, its
exorbitant price would run away with all the profits
and leave the millowners considerable losers, by the
operations from which they might fairly have hoped
to realise considerable gain. They are thereby
obliged to see their factories lying idle, the
operatives suffering every privation, and deprived of
those humble comforts that are almost luxuries, or
perhaps driven to the tender mercies of the union
, workhouse, to sustain life until the return of a more
propitious season, when our Legislators will be aroused
from their apathy, and will at length take steps to
remove the cause of all our misfortunes—to reform
and remodel the monetary laws.
But before Parliament can possibly be collected
together—before the necessary measures can possibly
be submitted for their consideration, and passed
through the various stages until the final "La Reine
le vent" is pronounced, much time must elapse.
The burden, already sufficiently onerous, will
have crushed us to the earth, and mischiefs perfectly
irreparable will have taken place. The national cha-
racter and the national credit will be fearfully
damaged, if not wholly destroyed, and England's
prosperity will be a tale of bygone days. Prompt
and immediate steps must be taken to meet the
emergency, to arrest the progress of the disease.
The Government must exert itself to preserve the
country. It is not a time to hesitate, or remain
quiescent, while the producers of national wealth—the
industrious and enterprising classes—the tax-payers,
by whom the national Exchequer is sustained, the
interest of our enormous debt paid, and our annual
expenditure for the support of our military, naval,
and civil services defrayed, are involved in ruin.
Already there has been an ominous presage of the
failure of our resources: the financial returns of the
cour.try for the quarter ending the sth instant ex-
hibit a falling off of more than one million and a half
sterling on the ordinary revenue as compared with
the corresponding quarter of the preceding year.
This is surely something to arouse the members of
the Cabinet. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will
have but a sorry tale to tell, when opening his
Budget, to the representatives of the people,
unless this deficiency can by some means
be counteracted, and the national purse
replenished. This can on'y be done by re-
moving the present scarcity, by sanctioning a circu-
lation sufficient for the wants of the people. There
is a strong objection at all times to the Executive
usurping the functions of the Legislature, and un-
settling anythi, g that has been solemnly detertnired
on by the three Estates, but circumstances may arise to
render such a step not only advisable, but absolutely
essential to the safety of the country ; and there can
scarcely be a doubt that an indemnity would readily
be afforded for any temporary measures adopted, on
the Ministerial responsibility, in order to meet the
emergency. We conceive that the Government
would be fully authorised in permitting the Bank to
issue such additional sum as may, on full considera-
tion, be found to be sufficient for the present; but
there is a mode by which material and immediate
relief could be afforded without any violation of the
Acts of 1819 or 1844. If the Exchequer-bills which
the Treasury is empowe red to issue were divided
into such sums as to make them accessible to all; if
in place of 1,0001. and 5001. bills they were sent out
fir sums of 101. and 51., and an announcement
was at the same time made that they would be
received in payment of taxes, these bills would
pass as readily from hand to hand as Bank-notes.
If come five, or even ten, millions of large
Exchequer-bills were thus exchanged into the
smaller denominations it would at once mitigate
the evil. In addition, the Bank of England, besides
the fourteen millions of notes, is authorised to issue
two millions of post-bills for the convenience
of persons desirous of making remittances; these
post-bills, which are payable at seven
days after date, are to all intents and purposes the
same as Bank•notes, and would circulate as freely.
If some of our wealthy bankers and merchants would
take a considerable quantity of those bills in the
smallest denomination in which the Bank will issue
them, and the people generally agree to circulate
them, in place of sending them in for payment,
ono million, or one million and a half, might be at
once added to the circulation. Something must be
(lone; and what we have just suggested might af-
ford a temporary relief until the more permanent
measures should be passed through the Legislature.

The principle which inculcates the irresistible
efficacy of moral agitation as the most effectual
means for ridding the social or political world of
abuses, is now recognised so generally, that associa-
tions similar in character to the famous Anti-Corn-
law League are successively starting into existence.
For the improvement of the physical condition of the
people the Health of Towns Association was originally
organized, and that movement has been already so far
beneficial in its influence on the Legislature as to
have led to the appointment of a body of duly-autho-
rised Sanitary Commissioners. For the better adjust-
ment of our present brittle and inflexible system of
national currency another association has been recently
organized, under the expressive cognomen of the Anti-
Gold-law League. For the purpose of diminishing,
and ultimately of preventing the recurrence of in-
stances of corruption in the election of representatives
to Parliament, an association has likewise been
founded under the expressive and explicit title of the
Anti-Bribery Society. The originators of this em-
bryo League have boldly struck at the very root of
the social TJpas which blasts the character of more
constituents than Sudbury, and renders the scheme of
the Constitution in a very great measure impracticable.

Rej oiced,ho wever, as we are to obser ee the comtnen
ment of a crusade against that venal vice which is
more if possible than any other, the most derogatory;
to the name of a freeman, we are prepared only to
coincide in the purpose of the undertaking, and to
reserve our approval of the manner in which the
Anti-Bribery Society intends to realise its aspirations
until the association is further advanced, and its
ideas are more mellowed by discussion and agitation.
Following the example of its memorable predeces-
sor, this society has already adventured upon the
pmuebmlibceartisonamofeng traactlls,emd is striving to enrol new
theef t paymenthe
member's o f a
name
singleame
to a very shilling,
of
thean
d the community
subscription
simple preliminary
declaration. That the numbers
that
obtained are
comparatively insignificant, and
an exhibition
No. I. is
marvellously unaspiring, both as
exhibition of
of
rhetoric and logic, are considerations
veryr little
moment to ourselves. They dilate into a prospective
importance whanever the thought occurs otosPeus ctive
the little back room at Manclester, where sevenof
dreaming philanthropists and sanguine students in the
science of political economy first projected the sub-
version of monopoly by the systematic advocacy of
the doctrines of free trade. In the Anti-Bribery
Society we would persuade ourselves that we already
perceive the phantom of the infant HERCULES strang-
ling the snakes of corruption. Nevertheless, we are
satisfied that if some bolder effort be not made by
the member& of this association than that which i 3

hinted at in the prospecttus, those serpents will only
be scotched instead of 'being effectually destroyed. ,
We would have witnessed in the inauguration of such
a body the commencement of a definite struggle for
the demand of the Ballot, as the only certain preven-
tive to bribery. A declaration to strive for the
triumphant acceptance of the Ballot should have been
the condition of the admittance of members into the
society. The Ballot should have been the rallying cry
in the campaign. The Ballot should have been
the text of its tracts, the theme of its
orations, the burthen of its rhymes, the motto
engraven upon its seals, the word which should have
been inscribed upon its official documents. Without
the Ballot, all attempts to prevent bribery at elections
will be of hopeless futility. Without a formal decla-
ration in favour of the Ballot, the declaration of the
Anti-Bribery Society will be null and fruitless. The
latter is expressed as follows :—" We, the undersigned,
pledge ourselves hereby to use all constitutional and
legal means for the suppression of the system which
makes election to the House of Commons an expense
to candidates; and never to desist from our efforts until
the sole qualification shall be fitness to represent the
views and feelings of the constituents." So far the
project of the association is most laudable, for,
among the many anomalies visible in the working of
our constitution, that regulation is most conspicuous
which renders it incumbent upon a candidate for the
suffrages of the people to disburse large sums of
money for the liquidation of the different expenses
incurred in the course of an electioneering contest.
While money is required to flow from the pockets
of the candidates into those of the constituents, it is
preposterous to hope for the suppression of
bribery. It were ridiculous to argue that those
moneys can in no manner be regarded as the prices
distributed for votes, because thee are merely the
payments of the ordinary expenses of a political
struggle—legal expenses—expenses of the hustings—
expenses of the committee-rooms—and expenses of
the staff of employees under the returning officers.
Such a line of argument would be the adoption of an
absurdity ; for the unsalaried representative of any
given city, borough, or county, should in common jus-
tice be chosen, not because his purse- strings are long, and
his cheque-book many-leaved, but solely and entirely
because nature seems to have qualified him to become
a legislator, and because the prosperity of the nation
and the happiness of the people are among his dearest
and loftiest aspirations. Such alone should be the
qualification of a Member of Parliament, for that
qualification implies him to be a man of capacious in-
tellect, of industrious habits, of sound principles, and
of uncompromising patriotism. And, inasmuch as
the Anti-Bribery Society maintains the necessity of
transferring the expenses of every election to the con-
stituents themselves, and thereby releasing the candi-
date from that most odious and most sus-
picious position which likens him in a way to
a pecuniary speculator in political principles,
it is eminently deserving of our approval. Inas•
much, however, as the association has not adventured
upon the advocacy of the Ballot, we entirely despair
of its object being attained. Each shot, upon the
present indefinite arrangement, must fall wide of the
mark : let the arrows of argument and declamation
he only winged by the Ballot, and the shaft must
each time quiver in the core of the bull's-eye.

Letters from Berne of the 13th state that the Pre-
sident of the canton of Neufchatel, in his interview
with M. STOCKMAN, the Federal Commissioner, de-
nied that he had favoured the transmission of the
arms seized, but that, on the contrary, he had written
to the authorities of the department of the Doubs, to
forbid that any arms or ammunition should be sent
through the canton of Neufchatel. In the course of
his explanations the President became warm, and
charged the Federal Commissioner with creating em-
barrassment in order to withdraw the canton from
the domination of the King of PRUSSIA. There-
upon, 30 violent a scene ensued that the President
declared that he would break off all further
communication with M. STOCKMAR, and sent
the Councillor of State CALAME to Berne, to
complain and to demand the recal of M. STOCKMAR.
To this demand the Vorort peremptorily refused to
assent, and added, that if the representations made by
M. STOCKMAR did not receive due attention the
Vorort would occupy the canton of Neufchatel with
a military force. It appears further, that considera-
able irritation prevails in the canton of Neufchatel,
and that much dissatisfaction is felt at the course pur-
sued by the Government. In addition to this un-
pleasant difference, another cause of danger to the
tranquillity of the cantons has arisen in Friburg,
where the Government has commanded its militia to
prepare to place itself under the orders of the Son-
derbund. The Protestant district of Morat, however,
has refused to supply its contingent, and, should the
I3cal Government use force to compel them, it will
afford an opportunity to the Vorort to send an army
to the assistance of the district of Morat.
The cantons of St. Gall and the Grisons have de-
cided on supporting the Federal Government in their
attempts to dissolve the Sonderbund by force.
A letter from Naples of the 7th says,—

"I yesterday received a letter from Messina, dated
the 4th. The inhabitants of Messina have beew dis-
armed ; the heads of a great number of insurgents
have had a price put on them. The proclamation
published by the military authorities runs thus :
'The individuals whose names follow shall have their
lives spared, if they present themselves within three
days—via., Bracanica, Caglia, Restuccia, Miloro,
Mecci, Mari, Micali, Santantonio, Sacca, &c., &c.
On the expiration of that period a thousand ducats
shall be given for every one of those individuals
brought in living, and three hundred if brought in
dead.,,

A correspondent writes from Rome :—" The very
liberal municipal laws granted by his Holiness the
POPE to this city have caused great satisfaction.
The assembly of Provincial Deputies will soon meet.
In short, his Holiness is proceeding on with reforms
and liberal institutions. The populations of the
cities are conducting themselves with great modera-
tion and propriety. The National Guards are acting
with energy and good conduct, so that Rome and the
Roman States are perfectly tranquil, and there is
every prospect of its becoming a prosperous and
happy country under the good government of Pius
IX. Lord MU TO is daily expected, and it is super-
fluous to say that he will be well received by the
Government and the people. It is generally believed
that the winter will be very gay, as the clubs and
municipalities will give files."

The Piedracmtese Gazette of the 11th inst. an-
nounces a change in the Sardinian Ministry. Count
SOLAR DE LA MARGARITA, Minister for Foreign
Affairs, reputed the chief of the retrograde party,
and the Marquis DE VILLAMARINA, Minister of War
and Marine, who represented the Liberal interests in
the Cabinet, had both resigned their functions. M.
DE LA MARGARITA had been replaced by M. Ass
NARI. DE SAN MARSANO, the present Sardinian Mi-
nister at Naples, and M. DE VILLAMARINA, by Count
BROGLIA DE CASAL BORGONE, Major-General com-
manding the brigade of Savoy. The KING, more.
over, had appointed- the Chevalier DES AMBROIS Mi-
nister of the Interior, and the Marquis CASAR AL-
FIERI DI SOSTEGNO Minister of Public Instruction.

The Marquis of MAZZAROLA, President of the
Council of Regency of Lucca, has announced the ab-
dication of the Grand Duke in favour of the Grand
Duke of TUSCANY. A Te Deum was sung at
Lucca on the occasion. The Count GHERAR-
DESCA, Major-Domo to the Grand Duke of Tus-
CANT, was to proceed on the 10th of October
to Lucca to take possession of the Duchy in the
name of his SOVEREIGN, and was to be accom-
panied by some troops, in order to give more splendour
to the ceremony.

Madrid journals of the 10th and 11th have arrived

The Goceta of the 10th publishes two decrees, one
conferring on General ALAIX the rank of Grandee of
Spain, with the title of Conde DE VERGARA, and the
other appointing General CMACON, Military Governor
of Madrid.

The Gaceta of the II th publishes the following,
decree countersigned by the Minister of Justice :
" The prosecution of the press with which the
fiscals are charged produces the inevitable incon-
venience of retarding the administration of justice
precisely in its most important criminal dispositions.
Her Majesty, consequently, desiring to conciliate all
that regards the welfare of the public service, has
deigned to command that a special fiscal shall be ap-
pointed at Madrid for the press,' to be subordinate to
her Majesty's fiscal, and to be exclusively charged

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