The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-15 00:00:00

debasing degradation of " physical wants and desti-
tution," we are rather surprised that his Lordship
should, as it would almost seem with purpose " afore-
thought" carefully omit from his enumerated buildings
those dungeon structures called " Union Workhouses ;"
and from the list of benefactors and instructors of the
poor, those tender-hearted souls, the Somerset House
Commissioners, their Secretary, their assistants, and
their deputed deputies, the guardians, relieving officers,
and masters of the workhouses. These arc the people
for freeing the poor fully and finally from all physical
wants, which of course supersedes the expensive neces-
sity of churches, clergymen, schoolmasters, Drainage
Bills, and all other the array for moral and religious in-
struction, comprehended in what the Right Rev. Bishop
of London terms " the appliances of religion." In truth,
the poor have plenty of lip-salve, whatever else more sub-
stantial they may be short of.
(From the Standard.)
What is the use of Mr. Joseph Hume ? is a ques-
tion often asked, but a question which cannot be long
doubtful to any reflecting man. Nothing is created
in vain, though we cannot always reach the pur-
pose with which some animals are called into
existence—many reptiles, for example, and some
familiar vermin. Much as we may be perplexed
to discover the use of these things, the analogy
of nature assures us that they have a use. In the
case of Mr. Joseph Hume the inquiry is the re-
verse of difficult. He is created and permitted to
exist as the representative of a principle—if we may
dignify with the name of principle, the enmity to what-
ever is reverent, generous, and amiable. We have men
who hate a Church, and hate pure religion—the reli-
gion of Protestants—we have too. many of such men ;
but as they are generally perms of mixed character,
the manifestation of their hostility does not produce the
proper effect in showing why the Church and the
Protestant religion are hated. Again, we have more
than enough of Malthusians, free traders, clippers and
parers of the salaries of soldiers, sailors, and humble
officials, new Poor-law admirers ; but these men, too,
are of doubtful conduct in other respects. There are
some amongst us, too, so eaten up with envy and
spite as to regard every man with abhorrence who has
earned the affections and gratitude of his country by
splendid public services. These persons, however, are
often wanting in the qualifications of a perfect model.
What is necessary for the information of the public
mind is a meeting in one of certain qualities, until,
as Junius says, " their combined sweets torture the
sense." Every one knows that Apelles formed his
ideal of consummate beauty by a selection from the
charms of all the fairest of the fair daughters of
Greece ; and it is only by a similar selection,
though on the side opposite to moral beauty, that
we can have a perfect representative of the anti•
Conservative. It will not do that we have here an
anti-Churchman, who may be a generous and fair man
in other respects ; or there a pro-Papist, who may be
distinguished by some good qualities ; or in another
place a Malthusian free trader, who may respect the
constitution and laws ; or beside him an envious, who
may not be an ungenerous, person. Such distributed
qualities prove little ; but when we have them united
in one, the tS pe of all the classes, there can be no
mistake as to the true source of each distinguishing
characteristic ; and all of them we have united in the
Hon. Member for Kilkenny. Let no man then say that
Mr. Hume is not of use—his morale, as a means of
public instruction, is beyond alt price. Last night s
exhibition of Mr. Hume, the Ministerialist, in 'con-
tact with Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the Oppo-
sition, is of great value. Ministers proposed a pen-
sion to Lord Keane. Mr. Hume objected to the grant,
upon the pretext that the Noble and Gallant Lord
lies under an unexplained charge of murder! au-
thenticated by the names of his accusers. Sir
Robert Peel indignantly defended the absent Noble.
man—showed that the charge of murder amounted
to this :—A marauder had been wounded by a
vidette, posted by Lord Keane's order to protect the
peaceful agriculturalists of a part of Affghanistan occu-
pied by her Majesty's troops : the fellow had died of
the wound ; and the regiment to which he belonged
having misbehaved in the face of the enemy twelve
months after, thought fit to trump up this fable of
murder, as an apology for their cowardice. Mr. Hume's
assertion that the charge had been authenticated by
names proved to have been an utter falsehood, as it is
impossible to doubt that it -was a deliberate one. Let
any one read Sir Robert Peel's splendid speech, and
then say, if he can, that the person whose conduc
called for that speech is of no use.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

(FRIDAY EVENING.)
CHRONICLE.—As the Committee on banks of issue
has been re-appointed, we have good grounds for expect-
ing that no obstacles will now be allowed to stand in the way
of a complete investigation into ""ithe effects produced on
the circulation of the country by the various banking esta-
blishments issuing notes payable on demand." Such were
the words used on the first appointment of the Committee,
and we suppose they have not been altered on their
re-appointment. There is, perhaps, an unnecessary de-
gree of vagueness in the words used, and Mr. Hume re-
gretted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not
stated what was the object of the Committee, and the re-
sult which was wished for. On that subject the recent
pamphlet by Mr. Norman may be consulted with much
benefit, and it is to be hoped that the Committee
will accordingly avoid the rock on which they struck
during last Session, by getting tossed about in a sea
of confusion relative to what Mr. Norman terms "the
economising expedients, or the auxiliary currency." The
words of their appointment point out the "effect of notes
issued payable on demand " as the object of their inquiry.
There is no mention of bills of exchange on bankers'
checks, and it is not necessary for the Committee to lase
sight of the main object by going too much into abstract
examinations regarding these matters, and as to what are
strictly speaking "deposits " and what are not. The
amount of bills of exchange current must depend greatly
on the comparative value of money. They are regulated
by the state of credit. When money is cheap, that is,
with a full currency, and when banking accommodation
is obtained on easy terms, the amount of inland bills of
exchange will increase—will be large. When money
is tight, that is, when the bank has put on the
screw," the bills current will be diminished,
although we have seen cases of exceptions, owing to the
temptation to increase discounts during a pressure for
money, from the high rate of interest. But as a general
rule, we may state with safety that the amount of banking
accommodation will be diminished in proportion with an
increase in the value of money. That increase is chiefly
produced by a diminution in the amount of the eircula•
tion, or, in other words, of the notes issued by the vari-
ous banking establishments payable on demand. Thus
we see that the notes payable on demand form the
basis of the bill or auxiliary currency, as the bullion
ought to form the basis on which paper issues should,
on the other hand, depend. By a rigid shifting, then,
into the effect of these piper issws upon prices, and on
the relative value of ne,ney, the Committee Rill get to
the foundation of the whsle fabric of our bill system, and
they will find also, if we be not very much mistaken, that
the fro:pent ups and downs " which sfiret our Money
Market, and derange the great commercial transactions
of the c-iuntry, are to be traced to a departure from that
rule of " convertibility " which ought to govern the ope-
rations of all banks of issue, squaring their liabilities, by a
regard to the state of the foreign exchanges and the rela-
tive amount of bullion. There never Vi :13 a more striking
statement than that of the late Mr. Page on the subject
of paper issues, that they formed a strange exception to
the general law of men being bound to pay interest upon
their debts. Notes payable on demand are nothing more
nor less than debts, and yet the debtors receive interest
upon their amount, and the greater their debts the greater
their profits.
TIM E S.—A commercial letter from Madrid of the 2d
inst. intimates, though rather vaguely, that the Spanish
Gavernment has formed the magnificent project of esta-
blishing a control over the opium trade with China. For
this purpose it has been suggested to throw open all the
ports in the Philippine Islands as places of deposit and
transit for the merchandise of ill nations, on payment of
a moderate duty. From this it is anticipated that a con-
sidereble revenue will arise, of which the Government is
well known to stand in great need, and, if successful,
there would also be a point gained of immense import-
ance to the country, imparting to it altogether a new
character in regard to commercial affairs. These are the
governing motives, without doubt, of the menaajtiztehdye.
helm, but it need not be remarked that there exists hardl
the slightest chance of these objects being
realized.
Men who have so much difficulty in preserving a smooth
and even course at home are necessarily too feeble to ope-
rate at all in such distant possessions as the Philippine Is-
lands, which their having retained at all under the many
changes Spain has undergone is next to a miracle.