The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-27 00:00:00

1 tritilirt .(1 11114'4,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 27, 1847.

The concession of the Government to the general
demand made by persons of every class, for a relaxa-
tion of the extreme stringency of the Act of 1844.,
has awakened the liveliest joy in all parts of the
country. Every one feels as if some grievous burden
had been removed, and that at length he might rea-
sonably hope that his exertions would be crowned
with success. Already the manifestations of return-
ing confidence are apparent, the gloom and depression
are rapidly passing away. The stoppage of :many
houses of acknowledged solvency, but which were
placed in jeopardy from the impossibility of obtaining
discounts upon any terms, however exorbitant, has
been averted. In the general rejoicing, the
limited character of the indulgence and. the
high rate of interest which is thereby renedered
necessary, appear to be forgotten. The great
facts, that the restrictions on a sufficient circulation
have been suspended, and that, as the most tale nted
supporter of the present, or we should rather sas the
late, system has admitted, "a fatal blow has been
given to PEEL'S Bill!" have, for the present at least,
contented the people, and removed the objections that
would otherwise have been offered to the stipulations
contained in the letter announcing the intentions and
wishes of the Government. It would certainly have
been more graceful, and in every respect more
desirable, if a full discretion had been af-
forded to the Bank Directors as to the
nature and extent of their operations. They
would, of course, have been in daily communi-
cation with the Government as to the manner in_ -which
they might act under the new state of affairs, and
would have yielded a ready assent to any rea:sonable
suggestions of the Ministry. They might 'even at
first have adopted the high rate of eight per elent. as
the minimum at which they would have discounted
mercantile paper, or made advances upon am y de-
scription of security, public or private ; but thee fixing
an invariable rate of interest, which, under a:ay cir-
cumstances, is not to be departed from, appeal s too
like an attempt still to maintain a self-acting reg alation,
to meet with much favour. The desire, too, tllx at the
entire profit of the extra issue should belong
to the public, while the Bank had to encoun-
ter all the labour and all the risk, was hardly worthy
of the rulers of a mighty nation. In such is crisis,
the better course would have been simply to have
suspended the Act of 1844, so far as it relate=d to the
issue of Bank of England notes. The• course
that proved so effectual in 11:.25 should h. e been
followed as closely as possible. An issue of one-
pound notes then preserved the national en ed It, and
why should not a similar course have been sfe3 ctioned
at the present period? If there was to be 'any de-
parture from the law, if an Act of Indem m ity was
rendered necessary, why might not full pm vi :rs have
been at once granted ?
There was a striking similarity between 'the state
of affairs in December, 1825, as described by Lord
e
ASHBURTON in his able pamphlet—" The Financial
Crisis
h e causesC°nsid et eadt "I—e d a
thend re*
to thosew e
roef
andthe present period. .
not alike, but the results •
were singularly -so. On
the former occasion h t ere was really a dearth_ ,of specie
—the gold was nearly drained
from the Bay slc coffers.
But 1,027,0001. alone remained in its cellars on
Saturday, the 17th clay of December. Previously
thereto the directors had by every means; in their
power attempted to restrict the circulati oaa, and to
hoard all their resources ; but the ' • panic Inez taw d under
that treatment, and their bullion was r & • • •
IyDal -

nished. Their example was universally followed, until
there was not a sufficient circulation to supply the
wants of the country, and commerce, trade, and in-
dustry were paralysed from the want of adequate
representatives of value. During the past month
there has been an abundant supply of specie, more
than 8,000,000/. in gold being locked up in
unprofitable idleness; but the directors were com-
pelled to adopt the same suicidal policy, from the
absurd law by which they were controlled and de-
prived of the slightest power or discretion. Lord ASH-
BURTON, in relating the history of the former period
says—" The credit of the Bank, for all domestic
purposes, was perfect. There was no man in the
country who was not ready to take its paper
as a means of circulation, and to give even his gold
for it the moment he was assured that his neighbour
would take it from him again. The gold was not
wanting to send abroad, the state of the foreign ex-
changes forbade it; there was, therefore, no kar of
depreciation of paper. The necessity and pressure
was purely domestic. What was wanted was some-
thing which everybody was disposed to trust as a
substitute for what everybody distrusted, and the
paper of the Bank of England answered, in such a
state of things, the purpose as well as
gold. It may be said to have done so
even better, as being more transmissible and
reaching more readily and rapidly the points where
it was wanted." It would scarcely be possible for
any one to have drawn a more accurate picture of the
recent state of the country. During the entire panic
there has not been the slightest imputation on the
solvency or stability of the Bank ; "its credit for all
domestic purposes was perfect," "the state of the
foreign exchanges forbade the exportation of gold, and
what was wanting was something that everybody was
disposed to trust," via., a sufficient issue of Bank paper
of the smaller denominations, or, better still, national
notes receivable in payment of taxes, and seared upon
all the resources of the country. Much instruction
may be derived from the succeeding paragraph of his
Lordship's statement. He says, "In this state of
things the remedy for the difficulty was obvious, and
immediately agreed to by us. Although the Bank
had no specie left, a large additional issue of notes
WAS made, and about 1,500,0001. of notes of 1/.,
which were accidentally found to be in existence,
were circulated; the relief was immediate, the country
received a circulating currency in which everybody
had entire confidence, and the useless geld was returned
to the Bank." And such would now be the case if
1/. notes were sent out to take the place of sove-
reigns. Notes for 5/. are too large to be used in
the ordinary and every-day transactions of life, and
consequently gold is essential ; but in Scotland
and Ireland, where small notes are tolerated,
they are readily received, and there is even a general
desire 'to-exchange gold for the notes of the banks
in which confidence is reposed. Why, then, should
11. and V. notes not be sanctioned; and why should
not silverthe standard of value in all the continental
states—be made a legal tender ? Is the ri-
diculous statement of Lord LIVERPOOL, " that
as England was the richest country in the world it
should use the richest standard," to be considered a
sufficient reason why we should submit to its con-
tinued rejection, why merchants, with a large supply
of silver, should be unable to find a pur-
chaser therefor, without exporting it from
our shores ? The public now entertain sounder
views on these matters, and they will no longer sub-
mit to all their interests being sacrificed to the main-
tenance of an absurd theory. The Parliament must
speedily be assembled together, and we doubt not
that the result of the legislative enactments of
the ensuing session will be to liberate our trade
and commerce from the fetters in which it
has so long been- enchained, to carry out to
the fullest extent the glorious doctrine of free trade,
and to effect the abolition of every species of mono-
poly. But the people must be active and energetic ;
they must not rest satisfied with the victory that has
already been attained; but their present success should
only stimulate them to increased exertion.

His Royal Highness the Due D'AEMALE has
evidently taken the Earl of ELLENDOROUGH as his
model as a rhetorician. The first Proclamation ad-
dressed to the Arabs and Kabyles by this illustrious
and experienced warrior since his appointment to the
Governor-Generalship of Algeria, is redolent of the
sweets of oriental oratory. Brief as it is, we might
readily cull from it masterpieces of hyperbole, and
passages evincing in the youthful Prince the most
poetic fruitfulness of imagination. Its introductory
sentence announces with a grandiloquent flourish the
appointment of his Royal Highness to the Govern-
ment of the Franco-African dominions, extending
from the frontiers of 'Tunis to the boundaries of
Morocco. The Due D, AIIMALE immediately after-
wards becomes sententious and reminiscent, casting a
very pretty paragraph before his foreign lieges, a
paragraph which, figuratively speaking, must prove a
nut rather difficult to crack even between the jaws
of an Arab or the teeth of a Kabyle. Accord..
ing to the aspect in which this vice- regal nut
may be regarded, it will appear on examination
either as a bullet or as a sugar-plum. Thus speaks
the oracular Governor-General of Algeria :
" You have learned by experience, 0 Mussulmans !
how powerful and formidable is the arm of France,
and how just and clement is her Government."
Certes it is the aesthetic sage in "Rasselas" discours-
ing to the immaculate but very gullable prisoners in
the valley of Abyssinia! "By experience," 0
Mussulmans ! you have acquired this exquisite capa-
bility of appreciating the justice and clemency of the
French Government, as well as the power and the
terror of its armed legionaries. By experience
Witness it the desolated homes of the Mahometans,
the ravaged territories of Kabylia, the bombardment of
Morocco, the assassination by slow fires in the cavern,
the cannon' balls of DE JOINVILLE, the fusillades of
B faggots of LAMORICIERE!
WitnessuG Eu
t,
thosean the blazing
terrible
crimes of military depravity
lk
and civic spoliation which have dyed the blue and
white of the tri-colour with blood, and likened the
standard of France in Algeria to the red banner of
the desolators of Borneo! Justice and clemency forsooth !
it is the justice of RADAMANTHES and the clemency,
of VALENTINO. Having indulgedin this delicate fan-
farronade, his Royal Highness endeavours to clothe
himself with the remembered lustre of his prede-
cessor. Still addressing the unbelievers—" You have
made your submission," he says, " to the Marshal,
and you have had proofs of the kindness of his go-
vernment : you must bear in recollection that he ho-
noured the great, protected the feeble, and was
equitable to all !" So voluble is this panegyric upon
the Due D'lsra• that we could almost attribute it to a
sincere conviction of the integrity of the French po-
licy in Northern Africa, arising out of an incompre-
hensibleieenparpteargye ofersion of judgment, did we not remember
th
g nt
tey Dueon D 'tAh
ou m
pa
ar:t
of
! Allmtahriess
ohhya-i
hy-
pothetical ben
BUGEAUD 13 attributed, with filial partiality, to the
reigningSovEamorr. Is the Governor- General described
as great and generous after victory ? His greatness and
generosity spring from the bosom of the KING ! Is
BUGEAUD depicted as the respecter of the property and
religion of those who wore the turban and marched
under the glittering symbol of the crescent ? Both
property and religion owe their preservation to the
KING ! Is the conqueror of Isly said to have evinced
throughout his administration an inexhaustible good-
ness ? That goodness is declared to have been
merely the indirect effusion of the goodness of the
KING! Thrice does the proclamation pronounce this
loyal asseveration—" It is the KING," C'est le Roi !
Yet clemency, generosity, and justice are the attri-
butes of the Sovereignty, and the Sovereignty of the
Constitution of July was diffused by the revo-
lution among the ranks of the people, and
not concentrated, according to the primal
axiom of feudality, in the person of the Mo-
rraacii! These evidences of beneficence are attri-
butable, therefore, immediately to the nation, and
pnoutiripecrliza,tetlhyrotuoghthteheSovnuEros.
like the travestied copy of a greater Lours,
he seems to
proclamation Andof his yseotn , Louisarro -
babble to the ragged Kabyles and Arabic.
gates these national attributes to lumselfindivtiadttuearldlye:
While his Royal Highness the Governor-General
cm,easltiomonsithi
moil"
adage of irresponsible authority—"L'etat,
coeflAeblrigetyriabiys sttrhievinpgubtloicaactiqouniroeffotrbehsiemself
grandiloquent
spurious
harangues, a simple deputy—the Deputy of Macon—
is striking a blow at the dynasty of the anointed s

A 4, AV 71 a
I ...'
. ''...q..
. 'a
;
4 .‘
11.. , • !- ~
1111014' "..", . ,
..."1111111,.
N.....'' , ' 4 r•m 0 -; 4,f ~,,,••• •
.xtp..- 1- . Asi;444ttl,l;
~ .e,,,..: , • 1iii.:,,,,:,,•*4!:,....,.1-
- -.- : p kr' ', , , ''', '4 , to, • ' ,t;.--,-
~...