The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-08 00:00:00

COAL MARKET.-YESTERDAY.

Bate's West Hartley... 13s 9dßelmont l6B 6d
Buddle's W. Hartley.. 14, Odßraddyll's Hetton
1177:
6(kdl
Carr's Hartley
Chester Main l5B Od'Hetton .... l7s 3d
Davison'sWestHartley 14s 3d Keepier
Ilasting's Hartley l4s 3d Larabton
Holywell Main ...... 15s 9d
......«17s Od
New Tanfield ll34ss
06dd
si‘ilourrrtiostol n
Ord's Redheugh
South Peareth
17s 3d
Townley T a nteiledv M oor .........
1134: 06dd
l' S‘st,liev.,:ta,e
r, t 'isi
...
16s 3d
Wall's End, &c. Caradoc .....
Acorn Close
1135:
69dd
ileuudgsohni'sinart.l.e.
..... 0..1
..
,166..
tOi(at
Tess .
13Clarkeel Bell
an
d and Brun
Co. " ......
. • •
16s 6d
GleroTtnoNrctehl 1 Gate. ...... ...
15515 6,dd
Adelaide
ey
Hedley . l5. 9d Seymour Tees ........ 16s Ud
Heaton
Barton
Hilda lss 6d West Cornforth .. l5. ed
Killingworth l5. 9d West Hetton l6B Od
Walker
Washington
Eden Main l6s 3d Sidney's Hartley
Lamhton Primrose ... 16s 3d Ships at market 132.

VOTE BY BALLOT.—We tgain quote the circular
forwarded to 170 Members of the House of Com-
mons, requesting their attendance this evening, for
the purpose of supporting the motion of the Hon.
Representative of Bristol. Yesterday the circular
was introduced in a leading article—to•day we
transcribe it as a paragraph deserving the most se-
rious attention:—

" August, 1848.
"TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
" THE BALLOT.
" Your attendance is respectfully requested on Tues-
day, the Eth instant, to make and keep a House for th•
discussion of the above question, which will come Ln
early."

WINDSOR, MONDAY EVENlNll.—Yesterday (Sun-
day) his Royal Highness the young Prince Albert Er-
nest Alfred completed his fourth year, and the event was
celebrated by merry peals on the bells of St. John's
church and St. George's chapel; and to-day, at ono
o'clock, royal salutes wore fired at the Belvidere battery
in the Great Park, and also by the corporation's guns in
Bachelor's-acre, in honour of the same event. Her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent will leave Frog-
more to-day by the Southampton railway on an ex-
tended visit to the Royal Family at
.Osborne, where also
her Majesty the Queen Dowager is expected in the
course of a day or two.
ELECTION or S 0 Bums.—Yesterday an attempt
was made by the friends of Mr. Bewley to raise that
gentleman to the first place on the poll, and an active
canvass was commenced on his behalf. At four o'clock
the poll books were closed, and the numbers declared
for Alderman Finnis, 314; J. E. Goodhart, 3i6; Bewley,
29; J. Goodhart, 10; Dicey, 3; Lawrence, 2. The
Town Crier then made proclamation that the poll was
finally closed, and that the formal declaration would be
made this day at twelve o'clock.
TUB BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETT.—Two
cases of French Bibles have arrived by it steamer from
one of the French ports, which are intended fur gratui-
tous distribution by the British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety; and the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury
have given directions for the admission of them free of
duty. A case of Finnish Bibles and Testaments has also
recently arrived at the port of London by a vessel from
Gottereurg, which are likewise intended fur grnuitous
distribution by the British and Foreign Bible Society,
and the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have
granted their delivery duty free for that purpose.
Elora Or WAY THROU6II GLEN-TILT.—We men-
tioned some weeks ago that the Duke of Atholo had
applied for an interdict ag4inst a farmer in Aberdeen-
shire for driving cattle through Glcn Tilt. On the ap-
plication being presented to Lord Robertson, his Lord-
ship appointed it to be served on the farmer, and at the
same time reserved consideration of the question of in-
terdict until he Lad been heard. We understand that
the farmer has now given in answers, and that Lord
Robertson has appointed parties to be heard in the case.
—Scotsman.

THE CURRENCY.
The Lords' Committee, reporting on the Currency
Act of 1844 (which Sir R. Peel called " the complement
of the Act of 1819"), describe it as " an attempt to en-
force by law, under all circumstances, one fixed and in-
flexible rule for the management of a National Bank of
Issue." This attempt, they say, " seems inconsistent
with the best written authorities, with the general prin-
ciples of economical science, as well as with the testi-
mony of many witnesses of practical knowledge and
experience." The Committee are, however, not content
with merely describing the Act of 1644 as a failure, in
so far as it might have been expected to carry into effect
an important and beneficial principle. They speak
strongly of its injurious operation. "It can hardly
tail," they say, "to be productive of most serious
evils, more especially when a contraction of issues,
indispensable in a state of adverse foreign ex-
changes, is rendered imperative, as it is by the Act of
1844, under circumstances which may be wholly oppo-
site?' It has been shown, they affirm, that "an enlarge•
went of the issues of the Bunk under a favourable
foreign exchange would frequently be expedient at times
when, under the provisions of the Act, no such enlarge 7
nierit wonld be possible, and even in cases where, by the
Act; a compulsory contraction would be enforced." We
ourselves have, we must confess, no great confidence in
what are called the " best written authorities ;" nor are
we very deeply moved by an appeal to the " genera
principles of economical science." All this is
well enough if it be absolutely necessary to fall
in with the new-fangled views and political
pedantry of the day, but we do not think it is. We
are of opinion that the good or ill effect of a currency
system should be tested, not by written theories, or by
the assumed principles of what certain persons presume
to describe as " political science," but by the effect which
experience shows the system to have bad upon the ope-
rations of commerce and the general condition of the
people. All the theories and all the scientific principles
(which are in truth not scientific principles at all, but
mere assumptions,) that c.in be appealed to io respect to
the Act of 1844 are mere "leather and prunella;" com-
pared with the one striking fact that a terrible monetary
pressure came, notwithstanding the existence of that Act,
and that when it did come there was no way to stop the
tremendous tide of ruin which was spreading over the
commercial world but by a suspension of the law of
1844, upon the authority of Government. There-
fore, though there are many things in the report of
the Lords' Committee with which we cannot have the
satisfaction of recording our concurrence, we do per-
fectly agree in what they say of the testimony against
the Act of 1844 which was afforded by the authoritative
suspension of it in October, 1847. It is difficult, they
say, in the judgment of the Committee, " to appeal to
more demonstrative evidence than is to be found in the
Treasury letter of the 25th of October. That letter was
a practical repeal, by an act of authority, of the restric-
tive clauses of the Act. It appears impossible at once
to defend the restrictive provisions of this Act, and to jus-
tify the letter which in this respect abrogated, or, at least,
suspended, those very restrictive provisions. The Commit-
tee consider that those restrictions materially aggravated
the pressure, and produced the panic of October, 1847.
But, even if those restrictions were originally defensible
when enacted, their hold on opinion, as well as their
authority in practice, have been materially impaired by
the letter by which they were superseded—by its ac-
knowledged necessity, and by its undeniable smelts.
The precedent is established, and its application will in-
evitably be called for on other occasions, and it may so
happen that the principle of relaxation will be applied
under circumstances less urgent and less justifiable than
those which occurred in 1847. The Committee are
therefore of opinion that it is expedient for the Legisla-
ture to provide specifically for the manner and the re-
sponsibility of relaxing these restrictions in times when it
can be done consistently with the perfect convertibility,
of the note— an obligation which should never be for-
gotten." Such of our readers-as have taken the trouble to
attend to the urguments which we have from time to
time laid before the public on the great monetary ques-
tion will not require to be informed that our views upon
the subject of the "convertibility " of bank notes are
not similar to those avowed by the Lords' Committee.
But we cannot expect that they who regard with defer-
ence the assumptions of a theorising school,and who call
those assumptions by the name of " the principles of
economic science," should agree with us upon the main
point of the currency question. The time, however,
we believe will come when these assumptions will be
treated as they deserve, and when the lessons of experi-
ence will be appealed to (as they always ought to have
been), in order to decide what description of money is
most convenient for this nation, and most conducive to
the general prosperity of the industrious classes. When
that time arrives the only sort of convertibility
of the bank-note that will be cared for will be its con-
vertibility into the commodities which an owner of
money may desire to purchase. Gold coins and gold
spoons will then be regulated in price by the supply of,
and the demand for, the metal of which they are manu-
factured, and the kill required in their manufacture.
Money will not be subject to the fluctuations of an article
of merchandise, but will be carefully given out and drawn
in by the State, according to the exigencies of the people
and the course of commerce and of credit for the time
being. But nothing can, we think, be more absolutely
incontrovertible than the proposition enunciated by the
Lords' Committee, that it is impossible at once to
defend the restrictive provisions of the Act of 1844,
and to justify the act of the Government in
October last, which abrogated or suspended those provt-
sions. No one can pretend that the fact of the Govern-
ment having to suspend the action of an Act of Parlia-
ment, without the authority of Parliament for so doing,
is by itself a good thing. If the suspension of the Act
was wise and necessary, then it is to be regretted that a
power to suspend the Act did not legally exist. It is to
be regretted that neither the Government nor any sub-
sidiary authority in the realm could do what was politic,
and wise, and necessary, without a violation of the law,
or, what amounts to the same thing, a sanction of the
Executive Government to the violation of the law if a
certain existing course of circumstances should continue.
No doubt it is within the limits of possibility—nay,
it is far from being violently improbable=-that such a
state of circumstances may again occur, under tke Act
of 1844, as did occur in October, 1847. The recurrence
of such circumstances would necessitate another relaxa-
tion of the Act of 1844. It is, in fact, a fair-weather
measure, and will not stand when violent storms agitate
the monetary world. At such times its restrictions must
be relaxed. Its " self-regulating principles," as they
were in a spirit of preposterous vanity termed, must be
suspended. This being clear, it is, we think, equally
clear that the law should recognise, somewhere or 'ano-
ther, this suspending power, and that it should not be
necessary for the Government to violate an Act of
Parliament in order to save the countrY, from ruin.
This is the predicament in which the Government is
left by Sir Robert Peel's Currency Law of 1844, that
vaunted " complement" to the Act of 1819.—Post.

DUTCH MAIL.
AMSTEIIIII.3I, AuG. 4.—THE BOURSE.—lnland funds
were more at at the opening, especially the Four per
Cents. Integrals were more favourable than yesterday.
Three and Four per Cents. improved partially. Rot-
terdam Rail v‘ay maintained its rates. Spanish funds in
demand and improved in price. Portuguese more firm.
Austrian in demand at higher prices. Russian Five per
C-nts. maintained their rates; Four per Cents. more in
demand ; for the rest no variation. The exchange
closing at higher rates is to be attributed to the higher
rates of the Paris Bourse. Discount, 3 per cent.
DUTCH FUNDS.—Amirsinam, Ara. 4.
Money. Bills
Actual Debt, 2% per Cent-- .• •• . 42% 4.1
Ditto, 3 per Cent •• • • 49% 50%
Ditto, 4 per Cent.•• •• .• •• •• • • GUN 67 Ni
Amort Syndic, 3} per Cent..........
Commercial Company, 4% per Cent ..
East India Loan, 4 per Cent
Exchangeon London, at sight ........ 11 9t
Two monthe •• •. •• 11 90
On Hamburgh, at sight .... 35 • 25
Two months.
On Paris . ...... •••• • • .. 56 62
Two months.

HA3IBURGH BORSE.NHALLE, Aro 4.
Bills. Money.
Hanoverian Loan, 5 per Cent.... .... • • DS
Austrian 5 per Cents .•• • • • ..........
Bank Shares •• • .• • • •• • • • • ••

Anglo-Russian Loan -....... •••• • • • • 34%
Russian 5 per Cent., Harnb. Certificate• 8$
Ditto let series Inscription. •• .• ••
Ditto, Hope and Co., 5 per Cent 85
Ditto, in Certificate.— • • .• —
New 4 per Cent., Hope and Co. —
Ditto Stleglitz ••••.•• • • • • • ••••• • • • • 75 745
Spanish New 5 per Cent • • • • • • • • • • • • ••
Ditto 3 per Cent ••••.••••• • • • • • • • • 17
Swedish Loan, 4 per Cent. • • ...... • •
Ditto, for 184 f; ..............
Anglo-Portuguese Loan, 2% per Cent • •
Dutch Actual Debt, 2% per Cent
Ditto 3 per Cent.
Polish New 4 per Cent. Loan, 1844.• • •
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per Cent ••• • • • 94
National Bank Shares

BIRTIII3.
On the Ist inst., at Parcglas, Pembrokeshire, the wife of
G. B. Allen, Esq., of a son.
On the 4th inst., at Titchfield-terrace, Regent's-park, the
wire of 11. S. Baker, Esq., of a son.

MAIMED.
On the 2d inst., at the church of St. Pierre du Bois,
Guernsey, the Rev. Carey Bro,k, 8.A., of Trinity College,
Cambridge, to Frances tliaaheth Georgina, second daughter
of the late Lieut.-Colunel H. Baynes, KAI, Royal Artillery
On the 2d inst., at Stoke Albany, Northamptonshire, the
Rev. George Quirk, of Great Easton, Leicestershire, second
son of J. Quirk, Esq., Solicitor-General ot the Isle of Mao;
to Julia, second daughter ot the Rev. E. Griffin, rector 0,
Stoke Albany.
On the fith inst., at St. Mary's, Lambeth, Mr. C. Wells, of
East-house, Kennington, Surrey, to Lydia' Youngest daugh-
ter of the late Mr. S. Jackson, formerly of Ilythe, Kent.
On the 3d inst., at Gillingham Church, Kent, Charles,
youngest son of the late N. Davies, Esq., ef Lothbury. tO
Helen Matilda, fourth surviving daughter of W. Draysou
Esq., of Brompton, Kent.

DIED.
On the 26th ult., at 379, •xford•street, Ann, the wife of
Mr. Job S, min, aged 51. The deceased bad been labouring
under consumption for the last eleven months.
On the Id inst., at Tavistock-square, W. A. Creighton,
Esq., of Creighton's Creek, Port Philip, aged 32.
On the 2d inst., at La Itosiere, Jersey, Isabella Laura, the
infant daughter of T. E. Le Blanc, Esq.
d
On the 3d inst., aged 26, Cecilia, wile of Legh Richmon ,
Esq., of lliversvale, near Ashton-under-Lyne. ick
On the 3d inst., at Annett's-crescent, Islington,atr P
Charles, the eldest son of Mr. C. Home, aged 15. the
On the 3d inst., at Lower-street, Islington, Elizabeth,
wile of Mr. T. Edwards, aged 6.9.
At Brighton, on the 4th inst., Benjamin Clarkson,
formerly of Hampstead, aged 56.
On the 4th inst., at Great Malvern, A. Nasmyth, Esq.'
F.11.C.5., late ot London.
On the 4th inst., at Stratford-place, Sir G. Wilson, late
Master in Chancery. aged 83.
On the 4th inst., Catherine Juliana. wife of Sir Edward
D. Scott, Bart., ot Great Barr-hall, Staffordshire.

London : Printed and Published by' WIRD° YOUNG,
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sups Ortiee, No. 112!
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in tho multi of
Ittiddleatz, Tuesday, Atignst 5, 1•